The new volleyball season is set to start with a bang tonight at Mid-Prairie High School as the Golden Hawks enterain the Washington Demons in their annual rivalry match.
The Demons were 9-24 a year ago, 3-7, tied for fourth in the Southeast Conference. On offense, Washington posted 699 kills, 600 assists to go with 1,276 digs and 135 blocks on defense and 179 aces from the service line with an 88.4% serve efficiency. Four Demons earned All-Southeast Conference honors with three of them returning.
Leighton Messinger was named first team All-SEC as a freshman. She was fourth in the conference with 194 kills in her debut season. Messinger had a kill efficiency average of .173 as a freshman, good for third in the Southeast. Her 95.3% serve efficiency was ninth best in 3A.
Two Demons were honorable mention selections as sophomores in Ella Greiner and Ruby Witthoft. Greiner is back after putting up 138 kills, 27 aces and 183 digs. Witthoft had 165 digs in 2022. This week, head coach Aaron Six talked about his team gaining experience and their focus and mindset entering a new year. “We had six girls (last year) who were on the floor for the first time. Having those girls back with another year of experience is huge. Each year coming in, we’re wanting to improve every time we step on the floor. That’s one of the things that we have been talking about. The girls have set that as a mark that they would like to achieve and are continually working hard to make those things come true.”
The Golden Hawks enter the fray after a 2022 that saw them complete the best campaign for the program since 2004. The Hawks locked down a 27-11 record, finishing the season in the Class 3A Regional Finals, falling to the eventual state champion Davenport Assumption Knights. Their win total is the mark and their playoff run the deepest since that season 18 years ago.. Mid-Prairie won six matches over ranked teams and spent more than half of the year ranked themselves, finishing 11th in the final 3A poll, and runners-up at the River Valley Conference Tournament. As a team they were fourth in Class 3A with 1,776 digs, eighth with 244 aces, ninth with 1,016 kills, 10th with 940 assists and 10th with 2,862 attempts. Mid-Prairie is ranked No. 11 in Class 3A in the first poll of the season issued by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.
Four players were named All-River Valley Conference including returners Dakota Mitchell and Jovi Evans. That pair also claimed All-District honors, with Mitchell named All-State. Mitchell finished the season averaging 6.5 digs per set, tied for most in the state. Her total of 630 digs were second in the state, reaching the 1,000 career dig milestone in October. Evans compiled a combined total of 961 assists, kills, digs and aces, most by any 3A freshman. Golden Hawk head coach Sherry Evans joined the KCII PM Sports page on our volleyball preview show to talk about the makeup of this year’s team and what has her most excited for the year. “One of our big defensive specialists, libero Dakota Mitchell, totally excited to have her back. Lanee Duwa, another key player for us last year that helped make our back row so darn scrappy and good. Callie Huber who was one of our big middles last year. Paige Safly who joined the starting lineup at the end of the season and contributed a lot for us. Harper Pacha is another one who was one of our pin hitters last year. Jovi Evans was kind of a pin, setter and DS role. It’s great to have her back too. We’re sophomore and junior dominant on the floor right now. We’re ready to break those new milestones. Last year, it was check mark we did this and check mark we did that. Setting those new goals and standards of that next level is important. Our serve/receive is going to be amazing. Our front row is big and fast. Our goal is to get to state and turn some heads there!”
The series has tilted Mid-Prairie’s way recently with the Hawks winning 18 of the last 20 meetings including 10 straight, by way of a pair of sweeps in 2022. Washington’s last win over Mid-Prairie came in 2016. Action starts tonight at 7:15p.m. at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.