Volleyball season is officially underway in the KCII listening area. Four area teams took the floor at Keota High School Monday in the Eagles home tournament. While the tournament has come to be an area tradition to start the year, things looked a little different for the 2020 edition. The participating teams were divided into two pools, with games for each pool played in two separate gyms as they have been in years past, but due to coronavirus precautions, the team’s did not change sides after sets, and there was no championship game between the winners of each pool so they did not have to change gyms, leaving the tournament with two champions.

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks won their pool by going 2-0 on the day against English Valleys and Tri-County. The Hawks beat the Bears 25-8 and 25-2 while topping the Trojans 25-10 and 25-12. After action, Mid-Prairie head coach Sherry Evans talked about what she liked in her team’s play. “Our passing and aggressive nature at the net were great. We got so many opportunities today to throw our setter a good pass to work offensively and work on different plays that we are going to continue to perfect throughout the season as the competition becomes tougher and the game gets faster. It’s hard to pinpoint just one player because we did this as a team effort. Our setter, Landy Pacha, never came off the floor. All of our DS’s, Amber Swart, Maddie Edgington and Paige Peiffer were on it with their passing.”

Highland was champion of the other pool. The Huskies also put together a 2-0 day beating Lone Tree 22-25, 25-19 and 15-13 and getting by Keota 25-17 and 25-12. After their matches Highland head coach Gina Trower talked about her team’s play. “Coming out today we were ready.  We have been working really  hard this season with the short amount of practice time we have been allowed to have. Our focus has been keeping in their heads that we need to communicate and move their feet. We need to bring ourselves up to a higher level. I think the entire team did really well. One in particular, Kayla Cerny, our pin played great, came down hard on the ball and the other team wasn’t expecting that.”

For other teams in action, Keota split their two matches. While the Eagles were swept by the Huskies they beat Lone Tree 25-22 and 25-19. The Lady Lions went 0-2 on the day.