Mid-Prairie set for state clash

CORALVILLE — Mid-Prairie volleyball will start its state tournament run Tuesday. The Golden Hawks head to Xtream Arena in Coralville as the No. 7 seed in Iowa high school volleyball state tournament. They will face No. 2 seed Davenport Assumption in the quarterfinal round.

Assumption and Mid-Prairie have met just two times over the last 13 seasons. They last squared off in 2022 in the Class 3A Region 8 championship. Assumption won the match 3-0 and went onto win the 3A state championship that season.

The 2025 Golden Hawks beat Davis County and West Liberty in the first two rounds of the 3A Region 7 playoffs. They booked their second straight trip to Xtream Arena with a thrilling 3-2 win over Center Point-Urbana.

Mid-Prairie (30-9) reached the state tournament in 2024 as the No. 8 seed in the 3A bracket. The Golden Hawks fell 0-3 (22-25, 16-25, 16-25) to Mount Vernon, which is the No. 8 seed in this year’s edition.

The Golden Hawks enter their matchup against Assumption as one of the top offensive teams in 3A. They rank second in the class in assists (1,122) and kills (1,229). Jovi Evans’ 425 kills are the second most by a 3A player. Harper Pacha ranks second on the team with 238. Jeorgia Evans has 210 and Katelyn Harland has 185.

Mid-Prairie also tops the 3A charts in digs and is the only team with over 2,000 this season. The Golden Hawks’ back row play was vital against CPU. They racked up 121 digs and constantly saved rallies throughout the tight match.

Jeorgia Evans’ leads Mid-Prairie with 563 digs. Freshman Elise Foster is second with 451. Jovi Evans has 414.

The Golden Hawks also rank inside the top 10 in 3A in total blocks. Laurin Fay leads the team with 69.

Mid-Prairie will try to take down an Assumption side that is also stout defensively. The Knights rank No. 3 in 3A with 302 blocks, led by Ellah Derrer’s 92, which is also the third most among individual players in 3A.

Derrer is also the star of the show offensively. She leads Assumption with 311 kills and has just 61 kill errors this season. Her 46.6% kill efficiency is the best mark among 3A players.

Behind Derrer, sophomore Belle Cotton has 221 kills while Erin Robbins and Delylah Graves both have over 100. Carsyn Kelley sets up Assumption’s attacks and has 767 assists this season.

Assumption won the 3A Region 2 championship to reach the state tournament. The Knights defeated Camanche, Central Lee and Wilton 3-0.

The match between Mid-Prairie and Assumption is set for 10:25 a.m. Tuesday inside Xtream Arena. The winner will play at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday against the winner between No. 3 seed Red Oak and No. 6 seed Kuemper Catholic.