Oskaloosa High’s volleyball team opened its home season last night with a three set sweep of Grinnell: 25-12, 25-12 and 25-20.  Freshman Faith DeRonde had ten kills and two service aces to lead the Indians. Junior Emily Richmond added five kills and was in on four blocks.  Indians Coach Jen Comfort said afterwards that her team still has work to do.

“We still have a lot to work on.  I don’t think our serve receive is where I wanted it to be, especially not the third set, the score showed that.  The girls fought hard, they had good energy and played together…just worked hard for the win.”

Oskaloosa is off until Saturday, when the Indians play at a tournament at Cedar Rapids Washington.

Oskaloosa found out just how good Pella Christian’s football team is.  Pella Christian, the sixth-ranked team in Class 1A, beat the Indians 51-33 Friday night in Pella in the 2018 season opener.  Pella Christian’s Noah Treimer rushed for 120 yards and a touchdown and also scored a touchdown on an interception. Oskaloosa Coach Jake Jenkins talked after the game.

“We made too many big mistakes.  It went back and forth.  You always make a lot of mistakes; your biggest growth is from week one to week two.  They made mistakes, too. We just made big mistakes that cost us.  A lot of them were on special teams.  We had too many gimmes.  If we had made them earn every single point, the outcome could have been different.  You have to give them credit.  It is what it is.  We made too many big mistakes to come back against a quality team like PC.”

On the plus side for Oskaloosa, senior Casey Hill rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown, while quarterback Cole Henry rushed for two touchdowns and passed for 206 yards and a score, and Tyler Miller caught a touchdown pass and ran for a touchdown.  The Indians kick off their home season Friday night at 7:30 against Washington at Lacey Recreation Complex.  You can hear the game on KMZN and the No Coast Network.