MAQUOKETA

The exhaustion had simply caught up to Mid-Prairie’s volleyball players one late night two hours from home.

Three days after winning their first River Valley South Conference championship, and just minutes after a tight two-set win over Anamosa in the overall River Valley Tournament semifinals October 17, the Golden Hawks faced Dyersville Beckman Catholic, the third-ranked team in Class 2A.

A Golden Hawk serve went into the net.

Then again.

And again.

The end result was a 23-25, 16-25 loss to Beckman in the championship match of a tournament that the Golden Hawks had never reached before.

“I don’t know how long it’s been since Mid-Prairie has even come in the top three,” coach Sherry Evans said. “Getting second is a pretty big honor, but obviously you want to get first.”

The championship match was the fourth in four days against River Valley teams that were or had been ranked in Class 3A or 2A.

“We’re tired,” Evans said, “but you know what? They’re probably tired, too.”

The reset came this week for the 3A eighth-ranked Golden Hawks, who swept Davis County and Albia in 3A regional matches. Next up is the Region 8 final against Wilton on October 29.

Mid-Prairie won the River Valley South Tournament title October 14 with dramatic three-sets wins over West Liberty and Wilton. Then, Thursday at Maquoketa, the Golden Hawks (30-8) defeated Anamosa by scores of 25-23, 25-23 to reach the final against Beckman.

“That was a good match for us to win,” Evans said.

Callie Huber had a match-high 14 kills against Beckman and Lanee Duwa had an acrobatic defensive save in which she sprinted toward the back of the gym for a diving dig. The Golden Hawks won the point as players jumped off the bench in celebration.

“Play of the month,” Evans said.

However, Beckman, which has lost just once (to Anamosa) in conference play this season, rattled off consecutive set victories, just as it had in the semifinals against Wilton. A seven-point streak in the second set quickly put the victory in motion.

“When you start playing teams like Beckman, that’s really good, you can’t scrap through and you can’t miss like six or seven serves in one set,” Evans said. “That was hard. That got us.”

Jovi Evans had 9 kills and 18 assists for Mid-Prairie. Dakota Mitchell had 17 digs.

Beckman senior Katelyn Schmitt had a team-high 10 kills.

In the win against Anamosa, Jovi Evans had a team-high 11 kills and Avery Helmuth had 16 assists. Mitchell had 15 digs. Katelyn Harland delivered 3 service aces.