Golden Hawks, Demons compete in volleyball tourney

WELLMAN -- Mid-Prairie hosted a volleyball tournament Saturday that Washington competed in.

The two teams played each other for the second time this season and the Golden Hawks won for the second time, although it was a much closer match than the first meeting.

'We worked with a new rotation on Saturday and the girls adjusted well and had great communication and hustle,” Washington coach Lexa Mahr said.

The Demons got a 2-1 win over Sigourney to start the day, but lost to Class 3A No. 10 West Liberty in two sets, Mid-Prairie in three sets, and Iowa City Regina in two sets. The Golden Hawks won, taking a 14-21, 21-11, 15-13 victory.

'Overall, I thought we played well at our home tournament,” Mid-Prairie coach Cindy Miller said. 'We were able to pull together when matches were very tight.”

Mid-Prairie started with a 21-6, 21-6 loss to West Liberty.

'I knew starting off with West Liberty would be tough but we bounced back with two wins against Sigourney and Washington,” Miller said.

The Sigourney win was 21-15, 15-21, 15-12.

'We almost had Regina in Game 2,” Miller said. 'We were leading 20-19 when the Regina attacker hit the ball out of bounds which would have been the win, Unfortunately, we were called for being in the net and we weren't able to finish after that mistake.”

The final score in the loss to Regina was 21-12, 22-20.

Offensive leaders for Mid-Prairie were Tori Boyse and Myah Lugar, who each had 10 kills for the day.

'Tori earned several single blocks and Myah served exceptionally well,” Miller said.

Defensively, Abbi Patterson led the Golden Hawks with 32 digs followed by Cassidy Hershberger's 15 and Catilyn Riggan with 11.

'We need to keep working on our consistency throughout each match,” Miller said. 'We talk a lot about mental toughness, body language and being court aware. This all comes with confidence and it seems we are getting closer every day.”

Mid-Prairie has a record of 6-7.

'This week we will be working on blocking, serving and defensive block coverage,” Miller said. 'We will play West Liberty again, but we will meet up with West Branch first, who also have several taller players that might give us some trouble.”

West Liberty (16-3) comes to Mid-Prairie Thursday and West Branch (12-6) will be in town today. Both are River Valley Conference matches.

Washington has a record of 5-15 and hosts Southeast Conference foe Keokuk today.

'At practices, we will be working on defense, especially tip coverage,” Mahr said. 'We also will be working on offensively adjusting when we are out of system and still getting a good attack on the ball.”