CONFIDENCE RISING

Golden Hawks defeat No. 12 Wilton for the first time since 2015

By Douglas Miles
Posted 9/20/22

The Mid-Prairie prep volleyball team had been swept in every match against Wilton since 2015.

The two teams faced off for the 2022 installment Thursday at Mid-Prairie High School, and true to form, it took just three sets to decide the outcome. This time, however, it was the Golden Hawks holding the broom.

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CONFIDENCE RISING

Golden Hawks defeat No. 12 Wilton for the first time since 2015

Posted

WELLMAN

The Mid-Prairie prep volleyball team had been swept in every match against Wilton since 2015.
The two teams faced off for the 2022 installment Thursday at Mid-Prairie High School, and true to form, it took just three sets to decide the outcome.

This time, however, it was the Golden Hawks holding the broom.

"It was, in all, a special night," Mid-Prairie Coach Sherry Evans said after the Class 3A 15th-ranked Golden Hawks swept 2A No. 12 Wilton, 25-19, 25-12, 25-22, in a River Valley Conference match. "We had a great night. We were 'digging for a cause' and everybody was just pumped up and motivated right off the bat. They got us on the first serve. We got aced, but then after we flipped the switch, we just went at them and at them and at them."

Mid-Prairie (9-5, 2-1 RVC) was clad in pink jerseys for its "Dig Pink Night," in which volleyball teams across the country seek to raise awareness and help fund metastatic breast cancer research and treatments through the Side-Out Foundation.

"They were ready to come out, they were ready to fight for a cause, really," Evans said. "We had a good speech in the locker room, 'It is about bigger things, not just us so let's go out and play for that.'"

Given its lack of recent success against Wilton, it would be easy to think the Beavers possessed a significant confidence edge against Mid-Prairie.

Not so, Mid-Prairie senior middle hitter Ella Groenewold said.

"We were feeling pretty confident," said Groenewold, who peppered Wilton with a match-high 11 kills and also added three blocks, which raised her team-leading total to 28 this season. "With this year and what we know what we can do, we are pretty much confident going into every game. We have that confidence this year, which is a really nice thing to have. It is a really nice change, just knowing that if we work hard and do everything right, we have a great chance of winning."

The uptick in confidence is undoubtedly a byproduct of the significant turnaround Evans – now in her fourth season at the helm – has orchestrated with the program. After winning just six matches in both 2018 and 2019, the Golden Hawks won nine two years ago and got within two matches of a state tournament berth last season while finishing with a winning record (16-14) for the first time since 2008.

"Our tempo and our confidence was way higher than it usually has been because we are so much better this year," senior Landry Pacha said.

Vanquishing long losing streaks against particular opponents appears to be in this team's DNA. On Sep. 1, the Golden Hawks avenged an even longer drought when they defeated West Branch for the first time in 14 years.

It was also a sweep, and the team credits an improved, refined tempo that has long been a work in progress.

"We are really pressing up hard this year because we have the tools to make it work," Pacha said. "We have great middles, good right sides and our outsides are great. And then passers are just great, so we can just use everybody and it just all comes together. It is really working well."

The Golden Hawks are an intriguing blend of experience and youth. After playing setter for much of her varsity career, Pacha has moved to the right side and has flourished alongside Groenewold, who patrols the middle. After posting recorded a team-high 19 assists with 10 kills and nine digs against Wilton, Pacha leads Mid-Prairie in kills (87), assists (143) and is third with 83 digs.

"It has been really great," Groenewold said. "It is really, really nice to have people on the outside now that we can go to when we need them, which was something we kind of struggled with before. Just having her and (freshman) Jovi (Evans) both as a setter and then an outside hitter duo, they are both so amazing in both positions so it is really nice to have them both there."

Mid-Prairie's talented depth has been bolstered by a group of underclassmen that are much more than valuable role players. Jovi Evans posted nine kills, 17 assists and 11 digs in the Wilton sweep and ranks second on the Golden Hawks in all three categories.
Coach Evans has enjoyed balancing the joy and challenges of coaching her daughter at the varsity level and watching her experience early success.

"It has been a work in progress," Sherry Evans said. "Sometimes her and I don't see eye to eye, but I think we do a good job of keeping our dynamic as coach-player relationship when on the court, and when we are at home, we are mom-daughter. That is what we have to do to keep it good." 

Fellow freshman Harper Pacha has contributed 53 kills and 54 digs this season. She comprises one-half of the other family tie on the team as she is Landry's younger sister. This will be their one year to compete together on varsity.

"It is very special," Landry Pacha said. "Not many people get to do that. It is just fun having her on the court. I love to encourage her and also yell at her because she is my sister, but still, I love playing with her."

Sophomore libero Dakota Mitchell had 23 digs against Wilton, which raised her season total to 196 and is tied for 11th in all of 2A.

Evans has placed a lot of trust in Mitchell due to their club background together, where Jovi Evans was also a teammate.

"We kind of gave her just the go to be the leader on the back row," Sherry Evans said. "If you see something, you say something. Direct your teammates where you want them, create opportunity for you to get more balls because she is quick, she reads well, she passes well and I think that is what makes her so successful."

The Wilton win is the third in four matches for Mid-Prairie, which includes victories over Ottumwa and 4A No. 9 Waverly-Shell Rock at Mount Vernon's tournament Sep. 3. That loaded participant field also featured 3A No. 1 Des Moines Christian, 2A No. 13 Dyersville Beckman and Center-Point Urbana, which all dealt losses to the Golden Hawks but also served as a valuable barometer for where the teams stands at this point in the season.

"We recognized that we can compete with those high-level teams," Sherry Evans said. "Because I feel we are a high-level team. The girls just have to believe it and they have to play like it and be ready to go from the get-go, not try to play catch-up from behind. So we learned a lot of that and I think mindset is huge for us right now."

The Golden Hawks visit Durant on Tuesday and Mount Pleasant on Thursday.

"We are going to keep playing how we did against Wilton," Groenewold said. "We are going to keep running the ball fast and playing with confidence, playing as a team, trusting each other and this just helps to build our confidence even more to get us more ready for the next games."