It took all five sets on Thursday in Wellman, but the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team got their first River Valley Conference victory of the season, outlasting the Cascade Cougars. The Golden Hawks took the contest by scores of 20-25, 25-22, 25-18, 21-25 and 15-6. After falling behind early, Mid-Prairie couldn’t come back to get set one, but led throughout in sets two and three to take the advantage. In the fourth set it was Cascade that pulled away late, but in the fifth set, the Golden Hawks dominated the action with Dakota Mitchell opening the frame on a run of 11 straight points. Mid-Prairie was led on the night by Maya Nonnenmann and Ella Groenewold with nine kills each. Groenewold talked after the match about the night and win. “It was amazing in the fifth set, Dakota (Mitchell) is a great server, she’s a freshman but knows how to stay engaged in the game. I was so proud of her. I think that Landry (Pacha) and I connected really well tonight. We had kind of lost it but we have been working really hard in practice to get it back and tonight that happened. We all focused in and kept positive attitudes no matter what happened. When it came to the fifth set we told ourselves it was ours already, we condition for things like this all the time so we were ready. When I saw that last point I was just so happy. This program has come so far. We have amazing players right now. I think our work and tenacity is really showing in every match that we play.”

Landry Pacha had 29 assists, Mitchell had 27 digs and eight aces. With the win, the Hawks are 6-5 and will entertain Durant Tuesday for Senior Night.