Landry Pacha gave Tipton no chance to extend Thursday’s match with the placement of her final kill in Mid-Prairie’s four-set victory over the Tigers. 

She walked through the handshake line and then shared an emotional moment with her teammates after her final regular season game in Tim Grady Gymnasium. 

“It’s just the last game playing here with all of my teammates, and my last home game with Harper,” she said about the tears. 

Landry and her sister Harper, a freshman, combined for 25 kills as the Golden Hawks (10-5) stayed unbeaten at home with the 25-23, 25-12, 23-25, 25-19 win.

Mid-Prairie improved to 4-1 in the RVC South with one match at Regina left on the conference schedule. 

A four-year starter, Landry did not experience a single conference win as a freshman. Ella Groenewold also saw varsity time as a freshman and has seen the program improve from a 6-22 season in 2019 to the 11th-ranked team in Class 3A this year. 

“It’s really amazing to see how much has changed in these few short years,” Groenewold said, “just the confidence that we continue to gain and what we’re able to do each year is great. Even when we’re gone, this program is just going to continue to build and only go up from here.”

Groenewold had five kills and six blocks on Thursday, while fellow senior Maya Nonnenmann had her 23rd kill of the season in the four-set win. 

“It’s really rewarding — it just feels great to be a part of such a good team with a lot of talented girls,” Nonnenmann said. “And they’re all like my best friends so it’s really fun to get to play with all of them.”

Senior Lizzie Kalm has enjoyed being a part of the team even as she’s dealt with injuries over the past three seasons. 

“They all treat me like I’m still part of the team and I’m still a player. Even though I was kind of their manager for two years,” Kalm said. “They’ve all just been so supportive and so loving. Even off the court too — in school, outside of school. They’re all just so supportive.”

The future of Mid-Prairie volleyball was also on display during the senior night victory. Sophomores Dakota Mitchell and Lanee Duwa had 22 and 10 digs, respectively. And Callie Huber finished with four kills and a block.

Three freshmen made big contributions as well. In addition to Harper Pacha’s 12 kills, Jovi Evans had a team-high 18 assists and 23 digs. She also had nine kills in the win. Katelyn Harlan led the Golden Hawks with three aces. 

Harlan had an ace during a four-point run in the first set, which forced  a Tipton timeout as the Golden Hawks led 17-13. But the Tigers came right back and went up 23-21 before an Evans kill and two aces from Harper Pacha gave Mid-Prairie the first set. 

After an easy 25-12 win in the second, the Golden Hawks struggled with focus in the third and lost their first set of the season at home. 

“We were close in that first set and then came out in that second set and just rocked it,” Mid-Prairie coach Sherry Evans said. “Everybody was talking, our bench was talking, the girls on the court were talking and everything just clicked. When the third set came around, I just didn’t feel like we had that communication on the court. And a few serving errors there kind of got us.”

The Golden Hawks came back and finished the match in the fourth with a 25-19 victory in the final set. 

“We went on a little run and they started coming back at us, but we just did what we did,” Evans said. “We ran a fast offense, got some serves over and thankfully won.” 

Mid-Prairie’s seniors and their parents were recognized in a senior night ceremony prior to Thursday’s game. 

The senior class has been incredible,” Evans said. “They have such good leadership, talent-wise they’re great. Even the girls that help us out over on the bench — amazing, amazing kids. We really couldn’t do it without them. They provide so much positivity, just things for our younger girls to look up to. Even some of the girls that don’t get in as much, their roles are so important.”