Photo Courtesy of Mid-Prairie Volleyball Social Media

In a matchup of top eight teams Tuesday at the Class 3A State Volleyball Tournament at Xtream Arena in Coralville, the No. 8 Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks dropped their match in straight sets to No. 2 Davenport Assumption. The Knights were winners 25-19, 25-10 and 25-15. Golden Hawk leaders included Jeorgia Evans with 14 digs. Avery Helmuth with 12 assists. Elise Foster with 11 digs and two aces. Jovi Evans with seven kills. Katelyn Harland with six kills and three blocks. Harper Pacha added three blocks. Following the match, Mid-Prairie co-head coaches Sherry and Zeb Evans spoke with KCII Sports about the close first set and the overall determining factors. “We struggled at times today. We played a good first set which would say we were ready to go. Then we let things slip away. We knew what the (Assumption) game plan was, to go through the middles and we just weren’t effective there. Assumption is a good program. They outmatched us today. (In the first set) we were scrappy, not giving up, if we got knocked down we got back up. We knew they had big swings and they were going to bounce some balls and they did. We were able to rebound after those and side-out to keep them on their heels a little bit. Second and third set we struggled with that and it put them in system, it’s tough when you let them do that with 6’2 and 6’3 girls. (For our offense) we were trying to get the ball set far enough outside so we could hit down the lines. They struggled defending when we did get those looks. We did that well. What stands out about this group is the team comradery. Those girls love each other dearly and get along so well. I think they are the tightest group that we’ve had. That’s my favorite part is to see how excited they are for each other. There were also a lot of cool milestones hit by the seniors because of their hard work through the years.”

The Golden Hawks finish the year at 30-10, their third straight season with 30 or more wins, the first back-to-back State Tournament appearances in school history and a share of their third straight River Valley Conference Championship. The Hawks say goodbye to six seniors including Jovi Evans, Avery Helmuth, Katelyn Harland, Harper Pacha, Ellie Callahan and Laurin Fay.