Mid-Prairie sweeps Washington to move on

WELLMAN — The No. 11 Mid-Prairie Golden Hawk volleyball team left no doubt on Monday night at home.

The Golden Hawks put together a dominant three sets in the Class 3A regional quarterfinal, downing Washington 25-6, 25-15 and 25-5 to complete the sweep.

In set one, the Golden Hawks jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead as they put together the perfect amount of offense and defense.

“We wanted to come in with a lot of energy,” Mid-Prairie junior Paige Safly said. “It was about hitting our serves and just attacking right away.”

They would never trail as they built up leads of 17-2 and 23-6.

“We’ve struggled in the past coming out and getting those first few points,” Mid-Prairie head coach Sherry Evans said. “We’ve kind of started slow a lot and had to play catch up, but we didn’t look back tonight.”

Washington struggled to set up its offense on the night and Mid-Prairie took advantage.

“It just seemed like we were off,” Washington head coach Aaron Six said. “They came out serving hard and we had a few missed passes and then it’s in our head.”

In the second set of the night, the two teams were tight through the wee stages.

A pair of aces put the Golden Hawks up 4-1 early, but the Demons rattled off three straight to tie it. The two would tie once again at 7-7, but Mid-Prairie began to find a rhythm once again putting together a big run, which included two runs of five unanswered and eventually made it a 24-11 match point.

“We kind of got things going in the second set and a lot of that was Mid-Prairie was making some errors, which was keep us there,” Six said. “We just could never get into an offensive set and a lot of that was just them being aggressive.”

The Demons were able to score four straight in the end, but the deficit was too great.

Set three was all Mid-Prairie. The Golden Hawks and Demons were tied at 1-1, but nine serves later it was 10-1 Mid-Prairie.

The rest of the way out, Washington was outscored 15-4.

On the night, Landry Pacha led the Golden Hawks with eight kills. Harper Pacha followed with seven and Jovi Evan six.

Evan also finished with a team-high 13 assists and Landry Pacha had 12 as well.

Dakota Mitchell led defensively with 13 digs.

Mid-Prairie was also stellar at serving on the night. The Golden Hawks finished with 22 aces, with nine coming from Safly and six from Evans.

For Washington, Alex Murphy and Maci Williams each had two kills.

Lauren Hinrichsen finished with four assists. Ella Greiner had a team-high seven digs.

The Demons end their season at 9-23, while Mid-Prairie will advances to the regional semifinals against Davis County (25-14). The Mustangs come in off a sweep of Central Lee.

“We just have to keep up the adrenaline, work hard and play as a team (to advance),” Safly said.

Mid-Prairie and Davis County will meet at 7 p.m. Wednesday the Golden Hawks home floor.