Mid-Prairie sweeps Washington to open season

WASHINGTON — Thursday marked the beginning of the 2022 volleyball season for both Washington and Mid-Prairie.

When all was said and done in the non-conference Class 3A bout, it was the No. 14 Golden Hawks walking away with a three-set victory, 25-16, 25-15 and 25-16.

“It feels great, “(to get the opening win) Mid-Prairie senior Landry Pacha said. “We’ve been working so hard and we have so much incoming talent and finally getting them on the court is super great.

The Golden Hawks showed why their ranked inside the top 15 in the class through each of the three sets, but Washington showed a lot of promise as well.

Washington played Mid-Prairie tight in the early stages of each set, but the Golden Hawks always ended strong.

“It took us awhile to get started,” Mid-Prairie head coach Sherry Evans said. “But they came together and played well together. This team is very tight and they trust in each other.”

Pacha led the Golden Hawks with seven kills. Fellow senior Ella Groenewold tallied six and freshman Jovi Evans followed with five.

Evans also racked up a team best 16 assists. Pacha also had 11 assists.

Dakota Mitchell, Mid-Prairie’s sophomore libero had the highest amount of digs with 16.

“We knew that we would have to play our best,” Washington head coach Aaron Six said. “We had opportunities at the net that we were inconsistent on and some of that too is we were a little slow on our block at times which makes it harder on our back row to judge that. Those are things we need to continue to work on. We see some signs of great things to come.”