Keota volleyball tournament

KEOTA - The season opened for volleyball teams Monday and Highland and Mid-Prairie took advantage of it with a tournament at Keota High School.

Mid-Prairie went unbeaten to capture the tournament title and Highland was third.

Mid-Prairie won the tournament last year but has a new coach in Sherry Evans.

'This is my first job as a head coach at high school and it feels amazing to get the win,” Evans said. 'This is a good group of girls. They have put a lot of hard-working time in all summer long.”

It paid off in three straight sweeps, a 21-11, 21-17 win over Highland and a 21-15, 21-11 win over Keota to advance to the title match against Lone Tree, a 21-13, 21-8 triumph.

The Golden Hawks caused Lone Tree timeouts with their fast pace sprinting out to a 14-5 lead in the first set. An 8-4 lead in the second set became 17-5 as Karson Jehle sparked a run ofseven straight points on her serve including three aces.

'We are playing at a faster tempo and we have a good relationship with our passers and setters,” said Tori Boyse, who recorded numerous powerful kills all night. 'Our coach talks a lot about confidence and to not let up or sink to the other team's level. Last year, we would get in a big slump and could not get out of it.”

Confidence and a fast-pace offense is what Evans knows and has been preaching.

'Have a confidence level in the tempo of our game is what will be crucial for us,” Evans said. 'I have been a lot around a lot of high-level volleyball and have seen that the fast pace is what is successful, so I knew that was what we needed to do.”

She also credited new assistant coach Dolfi Kalm and senior Cassidy Herschberger.

'She's one of our seniors with a lot of good leadership and hustle,” Evans said. 'She has a great all-around game.”

Hershberger was grateful Evans pushed hard in the offseason.

'It's good to see it pay off,” Hershberger said. 'Coach saw what we needed to work on and then make sure we worked hard at improving. We have come together as a team. Winning it all tonight, it's the best part. Working together and being confident in what we were doing is what made the difference for us, especially in the second game. Working together with the setter on being quicker has made a difference for us. It is so different from last year. We need to keep working to get consistent with it.”

Highland has Gina Trower and Emily Hegenbart as co-head coaches. The Huskies took third with a 21-18, 17-21, 15-13 win over English Valleys.