The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team continues to receive recognition for their 2022 campaign after posting one of the best seasons in recent program history. Golden Hawk head coach Sherry Evans was named River Valley Conference Co-Coach of the Year in the South Division along with West Liberty’s Ruben Galvan. Evans, who just finished her fourth season with the program, has helped engineer a tremendous turnaround for Mid-Prairie. The Hawks won just 11 combined matches in the two seasons before she took over. Mid-Prairie has seen steady improvement during Evan’s tenure, winning six matches her first season, nine in her second before a jump to 16-14 in 2021, the program’s first winning season since 2008, but 2022 was a breakout year. The Golden Hawks went 27-12, finishing with a 7-2 mark, second place in the River Valley South and had four players recognized as all-conference performers, seniors Landry Pacha and Ella Groenewold, sophomore Dakota Mitchell and freshman Jovi Evans.
The Golden Hawks stopped long losing streaks of six years and seven straight matches to Wilton with a sweep of the Beavers in Wellman and a 14 year, 18 match losing streak to the West Branch Bears with a sweep in Wellman. The Hawks also beat rival Regina for the third straight time, spoiling the Regals’ senior night in Iowa City with a sweep, and beat the Washington Demons twice, to make it 10 straight wins over their county rivals. The Golden Hawks racked up six wins over ranked opponents this year including Union La Porte City, Holy Trinity Catholic, Wilton, New London and West Burlington twice. The Hawks spent most of the season ranked in the top 15 3A poll issued by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, climbing as high as No. 10 before ending the season at No. 11.
Mid-Prairie’s playoff run was also impressive, beating rival Washington in the opening round in a three set sweep and following that with a sweep of Davis County. The Hawks were stopped by No. 2 Davenport Assumption in straight sets in the regional final, one win short of their first state tournament since 2004. This week, Evans talked about the season, state of the program, and her staff who she also credits for the coach of the year honor. “(This season) has been such a phenomenal place to be considering where we started. My first year we had six wins. Just to see us evolve has been tremendous. A lot of credit this year’s seniors buying into our program. They were freshmen in my first season. They are such a great kids and coachable. They really are the ones who have made the program. (The award) is really exciting. I really was not expecting that. My name is on the award but, honestly, for our program, all of our coaches need recognized. It really is a group effort for all of us. Becky Becker, Carleen Miller and Zeb Evans. We all put in our work with every level and it really takes all of us. I’m just really humbled by the award and I’m excited to see where our program can go!”
Evans career record at Mid-Prairie is 58-64 including 43-26 over her last two seasons, both winning years. In the 11 seasons prior to her arrival with the Hawks, the program had a 90-222 overall record with just one winning campaign.