Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie CSD Social Media

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team makes their return to Xtream Arena in Coralville for the second straight year today when they open the Class 3A State Tournament with a quarterfinal match against Davenport Assumption. The Hawks come into the match with a 30-9 overall record after outlasting Center Point-Urbana in the Regional Finals in five sets last week. The Golden Hawks were Co-Champions of the River Valley Conference. Mid-Prairie enters ranked No. 8 in Class 3A in the final poll of the year from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. The Hawks lead the state with 2,060 digs and in swing efficiency, have 1,229 kills, second most in 3A, 1,122 assists, second most in 3A, 258 blocks, seventh in 3A and 238 aces, seventh in 3A. Individual leaders include Avery Helmuth with 571 assists, Jeorgia Evans with 563 digs, second most in the state, Jovi Evans with 425 kills, second most in the state and 57 aces, sixth in 3A and Laurin Fay with 69 blocks.

Davenport Assumption is 25-7 this season. They were 8-1 Tri-Champions of the Mississippi Athletic Conference. The Knights swept through Wilton to reach State. Assumption is ranked No. 2 in the final 3A poll of the year from IGHSAU. This year the Knights have 1,159 digs, 988 kills, 918 assists, 302 blocks, third in 3A, and 181 aces. Individually, Carsyn Kelley leads with 767 assists, Piper Hodge has 373 digs, Ellah Derrer with 311 kills, 92 blocks, third in 3A, and 38 aces. Mid-Prairie co-head coaches Sherry and Zeb Evans joined the KCII postgame show following the regional finals to talk about what it means for the program to be back at State and how they can have success. “This feels really good. We’re just going to keep doing what we do. It’s fun to be challenged like this too. This is exciting. It’s exciting for the seniors who have been incredible for us for the last four years. We need to keep doing everything we have been doing to prepare for our playoff matches. Work on serving. Keep being scrappy. Work on serve/receive. Get a block to the net. (Assumption) is big in the middle, I think with our scrapping and extending plays, we should be in good shape.”

These teams have met twice in the last 12 years with the Knights winning both by sweep, including a 2022 Regional Final matchup. The winner of this contest advances to the State semifinals to meet the winner of No. 3 Red Oak and No. 6 Carroll Kuemper Catholic Wednesday. You can hear all of the action between the Hawks and Knights live today from Xtream Arena on all KCII signals, streams and apps, beginning with the Golden Hawk State Tournament Pregame Show at 9:30 and first serve at 10:25 from Coralville.