Kernels embrace underdog role in SoDak 16 volleyball match at No. 6 Harrisburg

Nov. 10—If the Mitchell High School volleyball season is going to continue past Thursday night, the Kernels are going to have to do something very rare in Class AA over the last few seasons: win a SoDak 16 game on the road as a lower seed.

The 11th-seeded Kernels (11-12) face No. 6 Harrisburg (18-9) in the SoDak 16, with the match at 7 p.m. Thursday at Harrisburg High School, the last of the eight matches of the Class AA SoDak 16.

Entering Thursday, the lower seed has won just twice in the first four years of the 16 teams playing in one-off state-qualifying matches, with Brookings (2018) and Harrisburg (2019) the only schools to accomplish it, both as No. 9 seeds winning at the No. 8 seed's home gym.

"It doesn't happen very often, but why not dream big," Mitchell coach Deb Thill said.

MHS carries confidence from the last two matches they've played, which included a five-set loss at No. 4-seeded Brandon Valley on Nov. 2 and a four-set home loss to No. 2 O'Gorman two nights later. In both instances, the Kernels looked like a committed team that played in system and showed toughness to give any opponent a difficult test.

"We are quite the underdog going in, but our kids don't have anything to lose," Thill said. "We're going to try to play well and compete hard and we know we're going to have to play one of our best matches of the year to beat them. But that's why you play and that's why you practice all year."

The winner of Thursday's match will take on either No. 3 Sioux Falls Roosevelt (19-9) or No. 14 Watertown (10-16) on Nov. 18 at the Class AA state tournament quarterfinals in Rapid City. (That match has been moved up due to expected difficult weather conditions on Thursday afternoon, with the two teams meeting in Sioux Falls at 4 p.m.)

The Tigers won the regular-season matchup between the two teams in three sets on Sept. 9 in Harrisburg. Thill said the Kernels have changed a lot of their schemes and personnel since that match two months ago.

"We're going to have to maintain our defensive integrity," Thill said. "You can't take away one player, because they've got so many other strong players they can go to. We've been doing well with that in the last few matches and we're going to have to serve hard and try to take the other team out of their match early."

Kaspen Alm leads the Kernels in hitting with 358 kills, which accounts for 45% of the team's kills this season. Alm also has 33 total blocks. Lizzie Tyler has 181 kills, 326 digs, 413 assists and a team-high 38 aces.

Sarah Sebert has 401 digs on the season to lead the Kernels. Sawyer Stoebner has 83 kills and a team-best 76 total blocks. Kaitlyn Christensen has posted 49 blocks, with 41 from Taylor Haring. Paige Guthmiller and Jurzee Gregg each have 22 aces this season, with Guthmiller picking up 153 digs and 113 digs and 206 assists from Gregg. Alyssa McGee has 155 digs for MHS.

Sebert, the team's senior libero, was on the Kernels' 2018 team that made the state tournament. She said it's exciting to be one match away and have a chance to take a new group of teammates to Rapid City.

"I wish they knew because it feels good (to get there)," Sebert said. "Because you know you worked hard and you know you succeeded at something and you're supposed to be there.

Mitchell has struggled in the second half of the season against tougher competition in Class AA, falling in eight of the last 10 matches. A win on Thursday would be Mitchell's third against a team with a record of .500 or better, preceded by a two-set tournament victory over Class B state qualifier Chester Area on Aug. 28 and a four-set win over Huron on Sept. 11

Like Mitchell, the second half of the season had a number of tough foes for Harrisburg, which lost five matches in a row in the second half of October — facing teams that have a combined record of 96-35 — before rebounding with victories over Watertown and Brookings in the final week of the season. But the Tigers had a stretch of 16 wins in 18 matches and of the Tigers' nine losses, eight of them came against top-5 seeded teams in Class AA or the No. 1 team in Class A, Sioux Falls Christian. The lone exception was a five-set loss to Aberdeen Central on Oct. 14, as the Golden Eagles are the No. 10 seed in Thursday's matches.

Abby Meister leads the Tigers with 294 kills, with Morissen Samuels leading the team in hitting percentage at .352 and blocks with 75 total blocks and 222 kills. Jada Wassink is the team leader in aces with 58, while Meister has a team-high 369 digs, with 302 digs from Zoe Rallis and freshman setter Maggie Meister has 444 set assists.

"She is one of the best players we have in Class AA," Thill said of Abby Meister. "We have to be ready for her and we know she's going to try to lead her team back to the state tournament."

Sebert said the key to success in Thursday's match is playing as a team and the Kernels' serve-receive game on defense.

"I think as a team, we have that will to win and that drive to be better," she said. "I'm excited to go play and show what we can do."