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Mid-Prairie back to regional finals after sweep of PCM
Golden Hawks move one game away from state with regional semifinal win over Mustangs
WELLMAN — Mid-Prairie volleyball is heading back to the Class 3A regional finals after its semifinal sweep of PCM on Thursday night.
After overcoming a slow start in the first set of the evening, the No. 12 Golden Hawks kicked it up a notch and never looked back on their way to a 3-0 set victory, 25-12, 25-15 and 25-16.
Although the Golden Hawks were slow out of the gate, once they found their rhythm there was no stopping them.
With Callie Huber, Harper Pacha, Paige Safly and Jovi Evans all playing in the front row at times, it’s a dangerous combination.
“It took a little bit for us to get in our flow and once we did that, look out, because we were unstoppable,” Golden Hawks head coach Sherry Evans said. “I think we started a little slow in the other two sets as well and then got into our rhythm. I want us to get into that flow a little sooner, but I’m very proud of the girls.”
The quartet was a thorn in PCM’s side all night long as Pacha and Huber both notched 10 kills a piece along with three and two blocks respectively.
Safly and Evans followed with eight kills and seven.
For Evans, it was a monumental night as her seven kills along with her 24 assists gave her 1000 assists and 500 kills in her early career.
“It honestly feels really good. Like the coaches said, we have something really special brewing right now and I feel like we felt that in the atmosphere tonight.” Evans said. “It was just so fun playing with everybody and I’m so happy that I can reach this with all of my teammates because I couldn’t of done it without them.”
Couple the defensive prowess of Evans with Dakota Mitchell and Lanee Duwa and not much is getting to the floor.
Mitchell finished with a team-high 18 digs, followed by Evan’s 10 and Duwa’s eight.
It’s because of play like that the Golden Hawks are heading to the regional final.
“We just needed to settle down and play our game,” Evans said. “We started connecting with our setters and were swinging really well. We adjusted and took over the match really.”
“We can switch things around with our front row and still be confident that someone's going to put it away,” she said. “We can have our setter in the back row and serve receive and our libero can put up a good second ball. That is such unconventional volleyball, and these girls are so athletic that it sticks with them and they do a good job.”
Mid-Prairie will take on No. 7 Center Point-Urbana (26-9) in the 3A Region 6 championship on Tuesday, Oct. 24. The Stormin pointers will host as they finished the season as the higher seed.
The Stormin Pointers grabbed victories over West Marshall (19-20) and Albia (20-15) to reach the final.
A year ago, Mid-Prairie reached the regional finals, falling to eventual state champ Davenport Assumption.
