The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team hopes the old adage, the third time’s a charm, implies in their regional semifinal matchup this evening.

The 14-16 Golden Hawks travel to West Liberty this evening for a Class 3A Region 7 tournament contest with the 34-5 Comets. Tonight will be the third time this season these two teams have met on the volleyball court. West Liberty won the original conference matchup in straight sets (25-12, 2-8, 25-19) on September 4th. The two matchup up again in the Hawk Tourney final on September 27th. West Liberty won that match in straight sets as well (21-13, 21-7).

Mid-Prairie made it to the regional semifinals by defeating Albia in straight sets (25-12, 25-21, 25-14) on Monday. The Golden Hawks’ offense is led by senior Taylor Kurtz, who has a team high 171 kills on the season. Sophomore Clarice Murphy leads Mid-Prairie with 249 assists, followed by senior Ashlin Stumpf with 184. Defensively, three Golden Hawks come into tonight’s match with over 200 kills. They include seniors Ashley Miller (275), Ashley Sojka (246), and junior Emily Cayton (214). Kurtz leads Mid-Prairie in total blocks with 43.

West Branch made it to the regional semifinals by defeating the Louisa-Muscatine Falcons (25-7, 25-7, 25-4) on Monday. Tonight’s regional semifinal between Mid-Prairie and West Branch serves at 7 p.m. this evening at West Liberty High School.