WEST LIBERTY

Mid-Prairie’s Landry Pacha received a painful reminder of Macy Daufeldt’s dominance in a volleyball playoff battle last week.

As Pacha rose up for an attempted kill in the Class 3A second-round match at West Liberty, Daufeldt blocked the ball right back in Pacha’s face.

Seconds later, Daufeldt, a senior hitter and the River South individual kills champ, slammed the ball through Mid-Prairie’s defense to finish off a 25-9 win in the second set.

Soon, the Comets, ranked fourth in Class 3A and unbeaten in 3A matches, celebrated their 36th win of the season, a 25-14, 25-9, 25-12 sweep of the Golden Hawks on October 20.

Mid-Prairie head coach Sherry Evans, with a determined look on her face after the match, was convinced this is what the Golden Hawks will be next year. It could be Pacha, a junior front-liner with two seasons of starts on her resume, smacking the ball into the faces of opponents, along with lots of help from Ella Groenewold and Maya Nonnenmann, junior hitters on this year’s squad.

Groenewold was the top blocker in the River Valley South.

The Golden Hawks finished the year with a 16-14 record, marking their first winning season since 2008. They won a playoff opener against Tipton, reached the finals of the New London Tournament and swept Regina Catholic twice for their first wins over the Regals since 2014.

“It always feels good to have a winning record,” Evans said. “Like I told the girls in the locker room, Mid-Prairie has come a long way in the last few years of just building.”

Seniors Maddie Nonnenmann, Cana Rediger, Alyssa McDowell and Ainsley Miller played in their last match for the Golden Hawks at West Liberty, helping to lead a team that rose to fifth place in the River South and a victory against Regina in the conference tournament.

“Great senior leadership tonight,” Evans said. “That’s one thing I’ve seen a big turnaround, our seniors just playing with heart and being vocal and working.”

Against West Liberty on the Comets’ home court, the Golden Hawks faced a brutal challenge. The Comets have not lost a set in any of their 36 wins entering Monday’s regional championship against West Burlington. The Comets’ four losses came to River South champion Wilton, the second-ranked team in Class 2A; Dike-New Hartford, the top-ranked team in Class 2A; and Western Dubuque, the No. 1 team in Class 4A.

Daufeldt, a Drake University recruit, has smashed her way through the season with 533 kills. She ranks third in the state in all classes and has 140 more kills than anybody else in the River Valley South. In three matches against Mid-Prairie this season, Daufeldt had 57 kills.

Daufeldt had 24 kills in the playoff showdown with Mid-Prairie.

The Golden Hawks scored the first point in all three sets. After yielding the first point in the opening set, the Comets scored six straight to take control. Mid-Prairie trailed by just one point in the third set, 8-7, but West Liberty scored 14 of the next 18 points.

Evans said the Golden Hawks had just one mis-serve the entire match.

“What I really love is all the little wins that we’ve had with the way our team plays together, the way they’ve improved, the confidence in each other and just the overall atmosphere of the team that I had this year,” Evans said. “They’re amazing. They all get along.”