It was a successful year on the volleyball court for the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks and the Iowa Girls Coaches Association is recognizing the work of head coach Sherry Evans to oversee this season. She was named the All-Southeast District Coach in Class 3A by the IGCA for 2022.
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 had 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-district 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.
Mid-Prairie is 43-26 over the 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.