Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Volleyball Social Media
The No. 8 in Class 3A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team understood the assignment Tuesday. On a big stage, with a conference title on the line for both sides, the Hawks made sure it was strictly a business trip to Iowa City, sweeping No. 8 in Class 2A Regina on the Regal’s Senior Night, winning their first outright conference title since 2004. The Golden Hawks were winners by 25-20, 25-20 and 28-26 scores. Individual leaders included Jeorgia Evans with 25 digs and 18 for Dakota Mitchell. Avery Helmuth had 21 assists and Jovi Evans finished with 20 assists, 16 kills and three aces. Harper Pacha added 11 kills, and Brylee Gearhart and Callie Huber had two blocks each. Following the match, Huber and Jovi Evans spoke with KCII Sports about the night.
Evans said, “The setting tonight was very intense at the beginning. Then, the student section, we kind of shut them up in the first set. They stopped cheering and their crowd got really quiet. We really made a statement. We had to key on their outside. She’s really good. Taking her away, and we really took care of that. This means so much because last year we came into this match and they took it away from us. We came back this year and said ‘That is absolutely not happening again’. We know that our goal is State and we really want to take care of business!”
Huber continued, “This was a major revenge game for us. Last year they stole the (outright) conference championship from us (we had to share it). We played really hard. We had to hustle and outwork them. We had a lot of long rallies and those really made the difference in whether we or not we won. Having a tough offense was key tonight. We did a good job serving and attacking, keeping them out of system so they couldn’t set (Naeve).”
The win is their 11th in a row as Mid-Prairie advances to 23-5 on the year and wraps up the RVC South regular season title with a 5-1 record. Regina is now 15-11 on the season and finishes conference play at 4-2. The Golden Hawks will be on the court Saturday at the Clear Creek Amana Invitational.