The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team takes the court tonight in Wellman when they host the Wilton Beavers in a River Valley Conference match. The Hawks are 14-5 this year and 1-1 in conference play following a 3-2 weekend at the Iowa City West Tournament, where they had wins over No. 10 in Class 5A Cedar Rapids Prairie, No. 12 in Class 4A Grinnell and Cedar Rapids Washington, dropping matches to No. 2 in Class 5A Ankeny and No. 3 in Class 4A Clear Creek Amana. Mid-Prairie enters tonight ranked No. 6 in Class 3A in the latest poll from the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. This season, the Golden Hawks lead Class 3A with 870 digs, 530 kills, and 508 assists. They are sixth in 3A with 98 aces, ninth with 89 blocks, and their .262 kill efficiency rating, is sixth best in 3A. Individually, they are led by Jovi Evans’ 257 assists and 129 kills, fifth most in 3A, Dakota Mitchell’s 246 digs, second most in 3A, and 22 aces, 10th in 3A, and Callie Huber’s 22 blocks and .339 kill efficiency, sixth highest in 3A. This week, Mid-Prairie co-head coach Zeb Evans spoke on the KCII PM Sports Page about his team’s recent play.

Evans said, “We have showed up with a lot of focus and a lot of drive, attacking the other teams serve/receive, trying to keep them out of rotation and get good swings. We have controlled the ball well. If we can control the opponent’s runs, we’ll get the outcome we want. (At Saturday’s Tournament) Jovi (Evans) set, which makes other hitters have to step up and they did that. Katelyn Harland, Harper Pacha, Brylee Gearhart all filled that gap. We got more comfortable as the day went on.”

Wilton is undefeated at 17-0 this season, 2-0 in conference. They were last in action Tuesday when they swept North Cedar. The Beavers are ranked No. 15 in Class 3A in this week’s poll from the IGHSAU. On the season they have 582 digs, 425 kills, seventh in 3A, 395 assists, sixth in 3A, 123 aces, 55 blocks and a .237 kill efficiency, ninth in 3A. Individual leaders are Leah Caffery with 336 assists, fourth in 3A, Kinsey Drake with 129 digs and 124 kills, 10th in 3A, Annie Holladay with 42 aces, third in 3A, and Kaydence Boom with 18 blocks.

Wilton has won seven of the last nine, with Mid-Prairie winning each of the last two years, including in four sets in 2023. Action starts tonight at 7p.m. at Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.