By Rodney Haas 
605 Sports 

RAPID CITY — For the last couple of years Mitchell Kernels volleyball coach Deb Thill has sat off in a corner keeping stats for the Class AA matches at the state volleyball tournament. 

This year however will be different as Thill will be coaching the Kernels in this week’s tournament after qualifying for the first time since 2018 after a SoDak16 win over Spearfish at Mitchell’s new high school gymnasium.   

“We started off the season where the kids had a dream, the coaches had a dream and we were trying to figure out how to make it work after not being successful the last couple of years and make that huge turnaround,” said Thill, who has been coaching the Kernels for 35 years. “One of our goals was to place higher in the ESD. We got ninth (last year) and we ended up getting third which was quite a jump. One of our goals was to host a SoDak 16 game and we were fortunate enough to do that and win it to get into the state tournament which was our ultimate goal. So it was really a dream season for us.” 

The Kernels will be looking for the first state championship since 2003, but will have to first get past top seed and defending state champion Harrisburg. Thill admits the competition in Class AA is getting tougher for the smaller AA schools like Mitchell as players have more opportunities in the Sioux Falls metropolitan area to improve their skills. 

“Our kids are multi-sport athletes and we are very proud of that fact,” Thill said. “Those schools, hardly any of those girls are multi-sport athletes. They play club starting in January to July and then they start their high school season. Those of us in the ESD blue-collar schools, we pride ourselves that our kids play basketball, they go out for track, they play golf and we’re still being successful. But it’s pretty dominated by the metro schools.” 

The Kernels have been led by seniors Addie Siemsen, Audrey Miller and Keena Soulek. Thill said Siemsen is in the top three in every statistical category and shared all-conference honors with Miller who has acclimated over 200 kills as an outsider hitter. Meanwhile the libero Soulek, according to Thill, has been the team’s emotional leader. 

“She gets everyone going and has confidence in everyone and that shows on the court,” Thill said of Soulek. “We had to become stronger mentally as far as being able to overcome mistakes and overcome things that go wrong not just in volleyball but in life.” 

Another key addition for Mitchell has come from former Kernel Sarah Hoffman-Vanlaecken who worked with the team as an athlete wellness coach.   

“She’s a tremendous individual and our kids bought into what she was telling them and how to deal with those issues —  mindset and positivity is huge not just in the game of volleyball but in the game of life and how you deal with things that come your way,” Thill said. “Our kids were able to deal with that. We won a lot of five-set matches. We won close matches. We would come from behind and just learn how to play in the moment. 

“We didn’t lose any five-set matches but we had the mentality that we were going to win and we did. Even when we were down, we would find a way to win. Sometimes the game of volleyball is inches.”  

The success of the Kernels hasn't been just on the varsity level, as Thill said the freshman and junior varsity teams had successful seasons. She added that the success is also translating in the lower levels where the K-6th grade programs had 90 girls and the fifth and sixth grade Kernel Club had 50 girls out. 

“We’ve had tremendous community support since we qualified,” Thill said. “When we hosted the SoDak game against Spearfish. There were so many people in that new auxiliary gym. It was loud and to have that many people cheering us on. Then after we qualified and just the support we’ve got from team meals to team gear to everyone wishing us well.” 

Thill wouldn’t say if the success this year had anything to do with the Mitchell school district  opening a new high school at the beginning of the school year, which included a new-modern gymnasium.  

“That’s hard to say because I think we would’ve won in our old gym,” she said. “However, there is a lot of pride in our new facility and when other teams come in and they are in awe of our locker rooms, our gyms, our space. 

“Our kids take a lot of pride in that as well and I think we were 8-2 at home this year. I would like to think we would’ve been like that in the other gym as well but honestly I don’t think we would’ve been able to fit all those people in our old gym that came and watched the SoDak game.”