Two familiar foes will stand across the net from one another tonight in Wellman when the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks host the Washington Demons in the quarterfinal round of the Class 3A volleyball tournament. Mid-Prairie enters the fray 25-10 on the year and ranked No. 11 in Class 3A in the latest poll from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. The Hawks finished 7-2, second place in the River Valley South. They were runners-up at Saturday’s Knoxville tournament, posting a 4-1 record that included wins over No. 6 in 3A Union La Porte City and No. 10 in Class 1A Holy Trinity Catholic. The Golden Hawks are led individually by sophomore Dakota Mitchell with 584 digs, second in Class 3A. Senior Ella Groenewold is 10th in 3A with 70 blocks. Senior Landry Pacha and freshman Jovi Evans have combined for 689 assists and 442 kills this season. As a team, Mid-Prairie is fourth in 3A with 1,634 digs, eighth with 918 kills, ninth with 847 assists, ninth with 241 blocks, and ninth with 218 aces.

The Washington Demons are 9-23 this year, with a 3-7 mark in the Southeast Conference, tied for fourth place. They have won four straight coming into the night including a four set win Thursday at Columbus. On the year, the Demons were second in the Southeast Conference in kills with 691, assists with 592 and aces with 178. Individual Washington leaders include freshman Leighton Messinger with 297 digs and 193 kills, sophomore Lauren Hinrichsen with 264 assists, senior Alex Murphy with 54 blocks and senior Haley Mitchell with 35 aces. These two teams met in Washington to open the season with the Golden Hawks scoring the sweep. The Golden Hawks have won nine straight in the series and 17 of the last 19. The Demons last win in the series came in 2016. Action begins tonight at 7p.m. at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.