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Mid-Prairie sweeps West Liberty
Golden Hawks advance to 3A-7 championship
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Two foes familiar with one another added to the playoff ambiance Thursday inside the Mid-Prairie High School gym. The Golden Hawks welcomed River Valley Conference rival West Liberty, which had a group of visiting students who made the 36-mile trip to cheer on the Comets.
Despite the visiting fans’ best efforts, the charged atmosphere only served as fuel for the Golden Hawks. Mid-Prairie snatched the momentum early, much to the delight of a its own student section clad in construction gear, and swept West Liberty 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-22) in the Class 3A Region 7 semifinal.
West Liberty nearly created some late drama in the third set. After scoring a combined 29 points in the first two sets, West Liberty made it a one point game, and the Golden Hawks called timeout up 20-19.
“It was kind of just recollecting, just a little breather, just a little break,” senior Jovi Evans said. “Just take a deep breath. We have some younger girls that haven’t been in these situations before. So, just taking that break for them to recollect - honestly, (let) everybody recollect a little bit, and it helped a lot.”
Mid-Prairie looked like a team on a mission all match, and re-stabilized out of the timeout. The Golden Hawks closed out the match with a 5-3 run.
The breakthrough for Mid-Prairie came even earlier in the second set. When West Liberty tied it at 12, Mid-Prairie responded with a 4-0 run. Jeorgia Evans had two kills in that span, which forced the Comets to call a timeout.
Evans had a strong outing with seven kills and was second on the team with 22 digs, forming a formidable back row with freshman Elise Foster, who led Mid-Prairie with 24 digs. The pair successfully prevented West Liberty from putting together runs to counter the Golden Hawks offense.
“That just kind of gives us a little bit more momentum and a little bit more trust that we’re going to get every single ball up,” Jovi Evans said. “There’s no other option. So, just continuing to be ready.”
Jovi Evans’ 15 kills led the Mid-Prairie’s attack. Harper Pacha added 13 kills. Katelyn Harland had eight and Laurin Fay matched Jeorgia Evans tally of seven. Avery Helmuth set up Mid-Prairie’s hitters with 25 assists. Mid-Prairie’s offense powered a 15-6 run to close the first set after it took a 10-8 lead.
Despite the close call in the third, the Golden Hawks never trailed in the match. Co-head coaches Zeb and Sherry Evans said Mid-Prairie’s performance was one of the most complete matches they’ve seen all season.
"Our serve receive was really good tonight, and that opened us up for our setters to move the ball around, and the front row, it was split pretty evenly I think,“ Sherry said. ”Everybody got some great hits and our setters did a great job of recognizing who’s on fire in the moment and going to that person.”
Along with her kills, Jovi Evans was also second on the team with 20 assists. After the match, she celebrated a career milestone, having eclipsed 2,000 assists for her career.
Evans is up to 1,337 kills and 2,007 assists in her illustrious tenure at Mid-Prairie. The senior credited the bevy of talented hitters she’s been able to play with over her four seasons. Zeb said Jovi’s versatility and influence improves the entire team.
“It makes the team better because the team becomes more like that,” Zeb said. “You are a reflection of leadership. So our team is kind of based a lot around that kind of an athlete where we can kind of do anything. I mean, Harper throws up a set tonight and we put a ball away. So, we trust every person on the floor to do anything that we need to do.”
The Golden Hawks will face No. 11 Center Point-Urbana as they attempt to return to the state tournament for a second straight season. The Stormin Pointers finished 20-13 in the regular season and beat Vinton-Shellsburg and Benton 3-0 in the first two rounds of the playoffs.
The match between Mid-Prairie and Center Point-Urbana is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday at Mid-Prairie High School. It will be a rematch of the 2023 3A-6 championship, which ended in a 3-1 win for CPU.
