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Washington Evening Journal
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Area volleyball year in review
Fairfield wins SEC, Mid-Prairie makes regional finals
The 2023 volleyball season comes to an end this weekend, and although the Union area didn’t have any teams playing at the state tournament in Iowa City, a lot of good things have happened for local squads.
Looking back at the 2023 season, the Union area saw a conference title, a regional final and plenty of wins in between before the final squads were knocked out ahead of the state tournament.
The Fairfield Trojans came into the 2023 Southeast Conference year looking to defend their title from 2022, but with a group of key seniors graduated from last year’s squad, the conference was once again up for grabs.
The Trojans earned the No. 1 seed in the SEC tournament, going 4-1 in the regular season. Washington went 3-2, and earned the No. 2 seed. That set the schedule for the tournament in October, where the Trojans and Demons played in the final game of the round robin.
Both Fairfield and Washington went 4-0 against the other four SEC schools, making that final showdown a de facto conference championship game. With the title on the line, the Trojans beat the Demons 25-18, 25-20.
The conference tournament served as a way for the Mt. Pleasant volleyball team to wash away a rough record in league play. The Panthers had won just one SEC match in the regular schedule, and came into the tourney as the No. 6 seed.
At the two-day conference tournament, Mt. Pleasant scooped up wins over both Fort Madison and Keokuk. That helped the Panthers jump all the way up to third in the conference, behind the Trojans and Demons.
Another opportunity for the Union area to grab a conference crown came in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference North Division. The SEISC North is the most represented conference in the Union coverage area, and six of the Top-7 teams in the standings came from the area, but nobody could beat eventual conference champion Wapello.
The Arrows finished the year 8-0 in the North Division, but they had to fight through the Union coverage area’s teams to make it that far. Winfield-Mount Union stood neck and neck with Wapello all season, and both teams were 7-0 coming into a de facto SEISC title game in Winfield on Oct. 10.
Wapello outlasted WMU in straight sets to win the conference championship. The Arrows were challenged by Highland six days later in the Class 1A Region 6 opener but grinded out a 25-13, 25-13, 23-25, 25-23 win. The Arrows were eventually bounced in the semifinals.
After the Arrows and Wolves, Highland took third in the SEISC North with a 6-2 record. WACO was fourth, at 5-3. Columbus (4-4), Hillcrest Academy (3-5) and Pekin (2-6) were fifth, sixth and seventh respectively.
Van Buren County threw a big punch to begin the season, as the Warriors opened the year up with an undefeated championship run at WACO’s home tournament. VBC would end up finishing fifth in the SEISC South, going 3-4 in league play.
New London had its share of troubles in conference play. The Tigers were 1-6 in the South, taking seventh in the division.
The Union area’s most successful team all year was Mid-Prairie. The Golden Hawks came into the 2023 campaign one year removed from a 27-12 record in 2022. The Golden Hawks had won 11 more games than the previous year, and Mid-Prairie kept improving in 2023.
Over the course of the season, Mid-Prairie won 31 matches, a banner year for the Golden Hawks’ program. Mid-Prairie went 6-3 in River Valley Conference play, finishing in fifth place overall.
Mid-Prairie was ranked throughout the season, rising as high as No. 8 in the Class 3A poll. The Golden Hawks earned two home matches in the regional tourney, and swept both, bouncing Saydel and PCM in three sets.
Mid-Prairie was the only Union area team to get into the regional final. In the Class 3A Region 6 championship, Center Point-Urbana pulled out a 23-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21 win to end the Golden Hawks’ season one game short of state.
One of the most improved teams in the area was Keota. One year after winning just four games, the Eagles more than doubled that, finishing 10-14 overall. Keota ended the South Iowa Cedar League East campaign with a 3-7 record.
The Cardinal Comets embarked on their second journey through a Southeast Conference schedule. Cardinal went 8-18 this year, a step up from last season’s three-win campaign.
The Comets went just 1-6 in the SCC. Cardinal’s one league win came on Sept. 19, when the Comets swept Centerville 25-21, 25-19, 25-21.
