Pella Christian volleyball coach John Evenhouse called it his team’s best match of the year, but it wasn’t enough as the Eagles lost to third-ranked Grundy Center 3-1 last night in a class 2A regional final.

The Spartans took the first two sets by identical 25-19 scores, before Pella Christian took the third by the same tally. That momentum continued into the fourth, where the Eagles built a 7-5 advantage. But Grundy Center ripped off a 13-0 run that Evenhouse says all but sealed the match.

“We were having trouble getting hits. We went on a little stretch where we really didn’t hit the ball hard, and if you gave them a little bit easier hit, they were going to come out and hit the ball hard at you. It’s kind of a combination of things – you don’t pass the ball well enough to the setter and then you wind up getting sets six to eight feet off the net. That’s what was happening during their run.”

Grundy Center won that decisive fourth set 25-16.

Bekah Horstman led the Eagles with 19 kills, while Morgan Fopma had 7 kills and 4 blocks.

The Eagles finish the 2017 season with a record of 21-16.