By Matt Gade

605 Sports

As volleyball began to take shape across the state of South Dakota, the city of Mitchell turned to Deb Thill to get things going while for the town of Mount Vernon that task was put on the shoulders of Darcy Deinert.

Thill was hired specifically to start the Kernels program back in 1991 nearly a decade after the first state volleyball tournament which began in 1982.

Over in Mount Vernon, that role was given to Deinert, a 1988 graduate of Mitchell High School, who started the program in 1999. 

Coaching volleyball just 15 miles apart, Deinert and Thill would lead numerous teams to state tournaments. Including a pair of state titles for the Kernels, in 1995 and 2003.

Earlier this season Deinert and Thill hit another career milestone, they both recorded their 500th win.

“It was kind of crazy. I didn't realize where she (Thill) was at the time. And then not a lot of people knew where I was at the time,” Deinert said. “It's kind of neat to be able to say that, obviously, the two of us have been around a while to get those things, but it’s just kind of neat that everything kind of comes together.”

Deinert who coaches the current co-op of Mount Vernon/Plankinton recorded her 500th win while competing at the Sanford Pentagon volleyball tournament back in September.

A week later Thill recorded her 500th win as the Kernels defeated Douglas in a single-match at home.

“I never even thought about that, that number (500),” Thill said. “I just wanted to get the program off and running, just kind of stayed there and did what I had to do.”

With the two programs so close together, the coaches have gotten to know each other a lot and have had many players play on club teams together.

“She’s a little more animated now than I am,” Thill said of Deinert. “I used to be like that, but the older I get, I settle down a little bit. Leave that to the youngsters. She is just such a supporter of her kids and a very positive person, fun to be around.”

Not only have Deinert and Thill been the sole head coaches for their volleyball programs, they also are elementary school physical education teachers and have coached multiple other sports too.

“Both of us are here for the kids and we come to work for them,” Deinert said.

Not only does Thill love coaching volleyball, but she just loves coaching. At Mitchell she’s also been the head coach for the girls’ basketball program at one time, including a state championship in 2003,  and is also the head coach for track and field.

But volleyball is still her favorite, “probably.”

Mitchell Head Coach Deb Thill gives instructions during a match back in September. (Rodney Haas/605 Sports)

Deinert said when she was a student at Mitchell High School they only offered intramural volleyball and so when they offered the sport after she graduated she knew it was something special that she would have loved to compete in had it been offered while she was there. 

Over in Mount Vernon, Deinert said the delay with getting a program was probably due to the old school’s gym.

“It wasn’t legal to play in,” Deinert said. “We couldn't have legally played in that gym. And so really, when we got the new gym, in ‘99 and that was really what kind of pushed it, because we didn't have a place really to play prior to that legally.”

Since the start of high school volleyball, both Thill and Deinert have said the quality of play has only gotten better.

One of the biggest changes, for the good of the sport, to the game of volleyball was the switch from Side Out Scoring to Rally Scoring.

Side Out Scoring being where only the serving team could score points vs rally scoring where a point is awarded on every rally. 

“I remember being in Tripp-Delmont/Armour with a group of girls until midnight, playing three sets, and we just couldn't get points. It was just side out, side out, side out and, so it’s definitely a lot easier for the spectators to come and to watch,” Deinert said.

Deinert and Thill are now two of 15 South Dakota high school volleyball coaches to reach 500 career coaching wins.

Earlier this season Harrisburg’s Ronette Costain also recorded her 500th career win as the Tigers have won 75 straight heading into this weekend’s state tournament.

Parker’s Jill Christensen is the all-time leader with an 837-266-14 coaching record. The other coaches with 500 or more coaching wins include Arlington’s Anita Boeck, Warner’s Kari Jung, Miller’s Linda DeBoer, Pine Ridge’s Nellie Long, Northwestern’s Nora Groft, Sioux Falls Christian’s Darci Wassenaar, Gregory’s Donna Schmitz, Todd County’s Galen Busch, Webster’s Cindy Nelson, Chester’s Jean O’Hara, Sioux Falls O’Gorman and Brandon Valley’s Kathy Hunt and Harrisburg’s Ronette Costain.