“Welcome to the Block Party!” This is the theme for the Pella High School Volleyball team, and there is no doubt the block party is being delivered. This year the Pella High School Volleyball team has a lot of returning talent, losing only one player off last year’s team.  They are an experienced team with a lot of knowledge of the game. Every girl playing this year saw action last year, and last year they had a chance to play at state. This year they hope to compete in the state tournament again.

“We play a pretty competitive schedule against other ranked teams, so I do think we are preparing for a trip back to state,” said Head Coach Catie Brand.  “We need to continue to get better every match, so that we’re playing our best volleyball during the postseason. Our strengths this year are our blocking, offensive attack, and varsity experience. It helps that we are pretty tall, but also that we only graduated one senior last year.”

Senior co-captain, Kiara Bradley, appreciates that the team shares a common goal of making Pella volleyball history by making it past the first round of state.  According to Bradley, the team is willing to work hard to achieve this goal.

“I think being a captain on this team is an honor,” said Bradley. “Our team has true chemistry, and that is really hard to find. They seem to make my job a little easier in some ways because we all are striving for that same goal, and know that it’s a team effort that is going to get us there.”  

She and co-captain, senior Natalie Meyer, share the excitement of being ranked #2 in the state.  

“It’s definitely humbling to be ranked number two, and I think we’re all doing a good job of not letting it go to our heads,” said Meyer.  “It’s crazy to think that we could be playing in the state championship.”

•Caleb Vitullo, [email protected]