The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team kicks off the conference season tonight in Wellman when they take on visiting West Branch. The Golden Hawks enter with a 5-1 record after a win over Washington and a second place finish at the Central Lee Tournament Saturday. Mid-Prairie is ranked No. 14 in Class 3A in the first poll of the year from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. On the season, the Hawks are led by Dakota Mitchell with 79 digs, Jovi Evans with 63 assists and Landry Pacha’s 31 kills. West Branch is 3-5 this season. The Bears were at the Clear Creek-Amana quad on Tuesday where they dropped matches in straight sets to the Clippers and Solon Spartans. For the year, the Bears are led by Ava Finley’s 90 assists, 47 digs from Alyse Klinkkammer and Iva Senio’s 31 kills. This week, Golden Hawk head coach Sherry Evans joined the KCII PM Sports Page to talk about what the Hawks have been doing well in the early season and what lies ahead against West Branch. “We are going to go out there with what’s been working. Our libero Dakota Mitchell and our defense at the net led by Ella Groenewold has been playing well. We are running two setters right now with Landry Pacha and Jovi Evans and they have been doing a great job getting the ball where it needs to go to let the attackers put things away. Serve receive has been very good. We plan on running our fast paced offense and going at them.”

The Bears have won 18 straight over the Golden Hawks with Mid-Prairie’s last win in the series coming in 2008. During that time, the Hawks have won just eight sets over the Bears. Action starts tonight at 7:15p.m. at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.