Two old rivals got together at the Demon Den at Washington High School Thursday when the No. 14 in Class 3A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks volleyball team visited the Demons. When the dust cleared on the non-conference contest the Hawks boarded the bus with a sweep of their country rivals in straight sets. Mid-Prairie took the match by scores of 25-16, 25-15 and 25-16. After the match, Mid-Prairie libero, sophomore Dakota Mitchell, talked about the keys to the Golden Hawk victory. “I was almost more nervous than last year, because we have such high expectations. I needed to read the ball well. We just need to talk, communicate. Playing against a lot of tips, I have to read the ball and communicate to my hitters.”

Demon head coach Aaron Six talked about what he saw on his side of the floor in the match, “Area that we really need to work on is our play at the net. Finding consistency in hitting and being able to read where the block is at and what’s open. On the defensive side of that, making sure that we’re closing out our blocks. Several girls played really well tonight. Leighton Messinger hit the ball well at times. Remy (Messinger), her sister, did a nice job as far as getting the ball where we needed to.”

The win gives Mid-Prairie nine straight over the Demons and 17 of the last 19. The Hawks have dropped just two total sets to Washington in their last nine meetings. Mid-Prairie is now 1-0 and headed to Central Lee Saturday for a tournament while the Demons fall to 0-1 and go to Grinnell for a tournament Saturday.