The No. 11 Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team opened the postseason with a win over the Washington Demons at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman in the quarterfinal round of the Class 3A regional tournament. The Hawks completed the sweep by scores of 25-6, 25-15 and 25-5. Mid-Prairie was led on the night by 13 digs for sophomore Dakota Mitchell, 13 assists and six kills from freshman Jovi Evans, 12 assists and eight kills from senior Landry Pacha and nine aces from junior Paige Safly. Seniors Ella Groenewold and Lizzie Kalm, sophomores Callie Huber and Safly, and freshman Harper Pacha all recorded kills. Safly and Groenewold spoke with KCII Sports at the end of the night about the match. Groenewold said, “This year we just had the expectation that we were going to go in, play our best, and hopefully come out with the win. We have bigger goals this year. We played together well. Our serving was amazing and I think everything just kind of clicked.”

Safly added, “It was so much fun. We were hyped, we were ready. (Serving) I’m focusing on myself. Getting my serves in. Just controlling it. (During a service run) it’s such a weird feeling. You’re happy and nervous at the same time. You don’t want to miss. The adrenaline helps.”

Top Demons included sophomore Ella Greiner with seven digs, sophomore Lauren Hinrichsen with four assists, senior Alex Murphy and junior Maci Williams had two kills each and senior Haley Mitchell recorded an ace. The Washington loss ends their season at 9-23. The Demons say goodbye to seven seniors including Ava Wulf, Alex Murphy, Navaeh Brown, Kenializ Espinoza, Haley Mitchell, Samantha Hunger and Kadence Howell. Mid-Prairie advances to the regional semifinals Wednesday against 25-14 Davis County, who opened the playoffs by sweeping Central Lee. The Hawks and Mustangs will meet Wednesday night at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman at 7p.m.