Photo Courtesy of MP Volleyball Social Media
The No. 8 in Class 3A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team is set to defend their home floor tonight in the semifinal round of the regional tournament when they entertain Albia. The Golden Hawks enter the night with a 31-8 overall mark this season, tying the school record for wins, after a quarterfinal sweep of Davis County Tuesday, where they were led by Avery Helmuth with 10 assists, Jovi Evans nine digs, eight kills, seven assists and four aces, Dakota Mitchell with nine digs, Jeorgia Evans five kills, four aces each for Mitchell and Katelyn Harland and four blocks for Callie Huber. The Hawks are ranked No. 8 in the final Class 3A poll of the year, issued by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and were regular season and tournament River Valley Conference South Division Champions. On the year, Mid-Prairie has 1,887 digs, third most in Class 3A, 1,151 kills, fourth in 3A, 1,091 assists, fourth in 3A, 242 aces, fifth in 3A, 178 blocks, and a .318 kill efficiency, second in 3A. Individually, Jovi Evans has 537 assists, 314 kills, seventh in 3A and 49 aces, ninth in 3A. Mitchell has a team best 506 digs, fourth in 3A, . Callie Huber’s .423 kill efficiency is best on the team and fifth in 3A and Brylee Gearhart’s 39 blocks lead.
Albia is 21-13 this year, they finished 5-2, third in the South Central Conference. They advanced with a sweep of Centerville in the quarterfinals on Tuesday. As a team, the Lady Dees have 1,105 digs, 764 kills, 666 assists, 226 blocks, 10th most in Class 3A and 213 aces, 10th most in 3A with a .151 kill efficiency. Individually, Albia is led by Chloe DeMoss with 305 assists, Lillian DeMoss with 272 digs, Morgan Teno with 176 kills, Avery Halstead with a .221 kill efficiency and 68 blocks, 10th in 3A. This week, Golden Hawk co-head coaches Sherry and Zeb Evans joined KCII Sports to talk about the keys to their team’s success tonight.
Sherry Evans said, “This is a really special team. Our culture is phenomenal this year, and it has been in the past too. This year they are all so focused on that goal of making it to State. Every day we talk in practice about staying together.”
Zeb Evans continued, “Discipline on defense. Executing our plays. Good serving. Serving passes are everything in this game. We have to continue to work.”
These two teams have faced off twice in the last decade, with the Hawks winning both matchups including a sweep in 2022. The winner of tonight’s match is into the Regional Finals, one step from State. You can hear all of the action live between the Golden Hawks and Lady Dees on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Golden Hawk Volleyball Pregame Show at 6:30p.m. and first serve at seven from Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.