The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team is one of the eight teams invited to the River Valley Conference tournament finals tonight at Northeast Goose Lake High School. The event, the first of it’s kind, pits the top four teams from the north and south divisions against one another to find an overall champion. The Hawks qualified by finishing third in the south division tournament they hosted Monday at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman. Mid-Prairie went 2-1 on the night with wins over Tipton and Durant and a loss to No. 14 in Class 3A West Liberty.

Mid-Prairie is 28-9 on the year, ranked No. 8 in the latest Class 3A poll from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

Mid-Prairie finished as regular season co-Champions of the River Valley Conference South. The Hawks are second in 3A with 1726 digs, lead the state with 1098 kills, 1073 assists and 248 aces and have 204 blocks.

Individual leaders include sophomore Jovi Evans with 560 assists, 314 kills, ninth in 3A and 52 aces, sixth in 3A. Junior Dakota Mitchell has 541 digs, third in 3A, and junior Callie Huber has 66 blocks.

Mid-Prairie opens tonight with Monticello. The Panthers are 21-8 this year, second place in the regular season and North Division conference tournament standings. Monticello went 2-1 at the North Division tourney Monday, beating Camanche and Bellevue before falling to No. 12 in Class 2A Dyersville-Beckman. This year the Panthers have 1485 digs, eighth in 3A, 821 kills, 766 assists, 146 aces and 134 blocks. Junior Mya Hansen leads with 704 assists, fourth in 3A, junior Jayden Kuper has 396 kills, third in 3A and 39 blocks, senior Keziah McQuillen 353 digs and senior Jordan Fangmann 33 aces. These two teams last met in 2021, with Monticello sweeping the Hawks twice.

Other first round matchups tonight include Bellevue and No. 14 in Class 3A West Liberty, No. 13 in Class 3A Anamosa and No. 13 in Class 2A Iowa City Regina and Tipton and No. 12 in Class 2A Beckman. Action begins at 4p.m. at Northeast Goose Lake High School.