The No. 8 in Class 3A Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team traveled to Maquoketa Thursday for the overall River Valley Conference tournament. The Hawks qualified for Thursday’s event by winning the RVC Divisional tourney Monday at Tipton. The Golden Hawks opened Thursday with a three set win over Bellevue 21-9, 12-21 and 15-8, then swept No. 12 Anamosa 25-23 and 25-23, before falling in the championship match to No. 3 Dyersville Beckman 25-23 and 25-16. Following the tournament, Golden Hawks Jovi Evans, Brylee Gearhart and Avery Helmuth joined KCII Sports to talk about the night.

Evans said, “We knew tonight we were going to have to turn it up a notch. We took care of business. We got down, we got out of it. We were joking ‘gosh, we’re so much better when we’re down seven, let’s just play like we’re down seven the whole game’!”

Helmuth continued, “We created more swings. I feel like we keep our composure (even when we’re down). We stay together, we all know our role, and we do a good job.”

Gearhart added, “We were better on defense, we didn’t let as many balls drop. I think for us it’s a lot of mental game when it comes to coming back.”

Stat leaders included Jovi Evans with 43 assists, 34 digs, 30 kills and three aces. Dakota Mitchell finished with 45 digs, Helmuth had 44 assists, Katelyn Harland four aces, and two blocks for Gearhart. This is the best RVC tournament finish in program history. Mid-Prairie is now 30-8 on the year and opens the 3A Regional Tournament Tuesday when they host Davis County. You can hear all of the action on AM 1380, FM 102.5, the KCII2 App and KCIIradio.com, beginning with the Golden Hawk volleyball pregame show live at 6:30p.m. From Tim Grady Gymnasium in Wellman.