Mid-Prairie set the tone in set one on senior night. 

The Golden Hawk attack was relentless during a 17-4 start, and Mid-Prairie remained in control for the rest of the night in a three-set sweep of Durant on Tuesday. 

“We all just wanted it,” said Mid-Prairie senior Alyssa McDowell. “We were all kind of thrown in different spots that we might not be in normally, and we all worked well together. We played with confidence and just went out and did what we were supposed to do.”

Mid-Prairie scored the first five points of the match and led 11-2 when the Wildcats called for a timeout. 

“We had good serving, and defensively we were where we needed to be, doing everything right,” Mid-Prairie coach Sherry Evans said about the quick start. 

Freshman libero Dakota Mitchell had five aces in the win, giving her 13 over the past two matches. 

“We started off strong right away,” said senior Cana Rediger, who had five digs on Tuesday. 

After Mid-Prairie took the first two sets 25-14 and 25-18, the third set was tied at 15-15 when Evans called for a timeout. 

A strong finish gave Mid-Prairie a 25-21 win and the sweep. 

“We really just wanted to work together to just finish it out,” said senior Maddie Nonnenmann, who had four kills and a block. 

With a record of 7-5, the Mid-Prairie seniors already have more total wins than they recorded as freshmen or sophomores. The Golden Hawks are 4-0 against teams with a losing record and are looking to finish with a winning record for the first time in 13 seasons. 

“It’s nice to be able to play together and win together in our last year,” senior Ainsley Miller said. 

Ella Groenewold led the Golden Hawks with seven kills and five solo blocks in three sets. Behla Schmidt had six kills and Maya Nonnenmann had four. Landry Pacha had a game-high 25 assists. 

“We had some good blocking, Ella Groenewold was just an animal up there, just a lot of solo blocking. Maya Nonnenmann did really well hitting from the outside and always our setters, running a great offense.”

The Mid-Prairie seniors have one final home game on the schedule, against Regina on September 28. 

“They are just the sweetest group of girls,” Evans said about her seniors. “They are just all so nice. If I could change anything about them, it would be to have them get a little more competitive edge in them — they’re just so nice. But I think that moving forward, being nice little young adults, they're going to be OK in life.”