Good morning, good afternoon and good night. The No. 6 in Class 3A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team made quick work of the visiting West Branch Bears Thursday at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman. The Hawks won their River Valley Conference opener in straight sets 25-12, 25-13 and 25-15. They were led on the night by 17 digs and three aces for Dakota Mitchell, 16 assists for Avery Helmuth, 15 assists and 10 kills for Jovi Evans, 10 digs and four aces for Jeorgia Evans, Harper Pacha with eight kills, Katelyn Harland with six kills and three blocks and five aces for Izzy Kite. Following the match, Golden Hawks Helmuth and Pacha joined KCII sports to talk about the win.

Pacha said, “Last year West Branch took a game from us that they shouldn’t have, so we knew that tonight we had to beat them in three. We started fast, controlled our swings, and got it done! Our team chemistry is really good. We need to just keep building those connections.”

Helmuth continued, “We started fast tonight, focused on our serves and our serve-receive worked well. We work on connections a lot at practice, and I think that’s a big part of our game. As a setter, I have all hitters as my options. We recovered well off of their block and were scrappy.”

The victory is the 10th straight for Mid-Prairie as they run their overall record to 10-2 and move to 1-0 in conference. The Hawks are next on the court Monday when they travel to Washington.