By Sam Parsons

Less than 24 hours removed from an emotional 5-setter against #3 Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont on Monday, the Oskaloosa Indians found themselves in another match that went the distance on Tuesday, this time against conference foe Pella Christian. This time, it wouldn’t go the way of the Indians.

The opening set was tightly contested with Oskaloosa leading 21-18 late, but Pella Christian went on 7 point run to shock the Indians and take a 1-0 lead.

The Indians were able to overcome that shock with a dominant performance in the second set. Osky started the set on a 5 point run and never looked back, cruising their way to a 25-15 victory to tie it at 1-1. The good times kept rolling for Osky in the third set as they found themselves up 20-11, looking poised to put the Eagles away in short order, but the Eagles, in a harbinger of things to come, would not quit, scoring 9 of the next 10 points to get right back into the set. Osky held them off 25-21 to take a 2-1 lead, but that lead was far from secure.

Pella Christian went toe-to-toe with Osky from then on, winning a tense fourth set 25-22 to tie it up and send the match to a fifth set, which wound up being the most gripping one of the night. Neither team led by more than 3 points at any time in the set and ultimately it went to extra points, with each team facing match point multiple times before the Eagles finished it with a 3 point run from being down 18-17 to win it 20-18.

Oskaloosa (12-9) will host Grinnell next Tuesday in their penultimate Little Hawkeye Conference game of the season. Pella Christian (14-8) travels to Greene County for a tournament on Saturday.