After a week packed with scrimmages, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team is set for their first official matches of the year Monday when they travel to Keota. The Golden Hawks are coming off of a 5-23 season a year ago. The Hawks also opened last year at Keota where they beat Lone Tree and Keota before being swept by Highland.

Offensively, Mid-Prairie will try to replace Maya Hall, who led them in kills last year with 84. The senior also had the top serving numbers for the Golden Hawks. Myah Lugar was second on the team a season ago with 76 kills and she returns along with Makensie Rich who was third with 39. Caitlyn Riggan is back for the Hawks after a sophomore year that saw her finish with a team best 261 assists. Defensively the Hawks lost their top three in digs from last year with Alison Yoder, Maya Hall and Anna Vilovchik accumulating nearly 800 total. Abbi Patterson is the leading returner in that category with 159. This week, Mid-Prairie head coach Cindy Miller talked about what has her most excited about the upcoming season. “Their work ethic and how they get along. Team chemistry is so important in volleyball, and this group is so fun. They work hard but we have fun. That’s why I think they are going to be so successful this year. Everything has been positive. I just think we are going to do good things this year.”

Area schools Highland, Keota and Lone Tree will attend, along with Tri-County and English Valleys. Action begins at 4:30 this afternoon and continues into the evening at Keota High School.