SIOUX FALLS — As the curtain rises on the 2024 South Dakota high school volleyball state tournaments, all three class champions from 2023 return to defend their titles.

Harrisburg puts a lengthy win streak on the line while looking for three championships in a row in Class AA; Sioux Falls Christian attempts to extend its Class A reign of dominance; and Chester hopes to become the first Class B repeat champion other than stalwarts Warner and Northwestern since 2002.

Here’s what to keep an eye on Thursday through Saturday at the Premier Center:

For a decade and a half, Sioux Falls Christian has been the team to beat in Class A volleyball, winning 12 of the past 14 state titles and seven in a row entering this weekend.

But while most of those championships came from a favorable seed position, if the Chargers are to collect an unprecedented eighth consecutive title, they’ll have to do it as the No. 8 seed in the bracket. First up for Sioux Falls Christian is No. 1 seed Miller, which has just one loss on the season (to Class B No. 2 Warner), in the opening match of the tournament. Should the Chargers knock off the Rustlers, a meeting with rival and No. 4 seed Dakota Valley or No. 5 Mount Vernon/Plankinton would await in the semifinals.

This season, SFC is 25-12, with those 12 losses the most in any single season during their 15-year run of dominance. The Chargers lost just 14 total over the previous four seasons. But the record can be quite misleading. Seven of those 12 losses this season came to out-of-state foes, and an eighth came to Class AA No. 1 Harrisburg.

Class A 3-seed Dell Rapids split a pair of matches with the Chargers this season, and 4-seed Dakota Valley knocked them off twice, but no one else in the tournament field has seen SFC this season.

To find the last time Harrisburg was on the losing end of a volleyball match, one must go back to Oct. 4, 2022.

Since then, the Tigers have stacked up 75 consecutive match wins and now stand three wins away from back-to-back perfect seasons. En route to a 28-0 record so far this season, Harrisburg has only dropped five total sets, sweeping 23 opponents, and has yet to be taken the distance in a best-of-five sets match. Of those five set losses, only one came against a Class AA foe, as Sioux Falls Washington, the No. 3 tournament seed, nabbed on Sept. 24.

Of the other contenders, look to the winner No. 4 O’Gorman and No. 5 Watertown, which should be a hard-fought match and will likely have the winner carrying a “nothing to lose” feeling against the Tigers in the semifinals. O’Gorman has only lost once in the last six weeks, that being a 3-0 loss to Harrisburg on Oct. 29.

In the bottom of the bracket, Jefferson and Washington are the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds and seem likely to face each other. A sleeper to watch is No. 6 Sioux Falls Roosevelt, which is 19-9, and went five sets with the Warriors twice already this season, both won by Washington. Both lower seeds in that bracket have been trending strong, with eight-straight wins for No. 7 Brandon Valley and seven in a row for Roosevelt.

Since 2003, no two consecutive seasons have passed without either Warner (eight titles in that span) or Northwestern (nine titles) winning a Class B championship, but Chester is looking to change that.

The Flyers took down Warner in a five-set thriller during last season’s championship match and enter this year’s tournament as the No. 1 seed. At 29-2, Chester’s lone losses this season came at the Pentagon Invitational tournament to a pair of Iowa programs. For the third year in a row, Chester enters the state tournament without a loss to another Class B team and the last such outcome was a 2022 state championship loss to Warner. 

But even as the favorite, a championship repeat doesn’t figure to be a cakewalk. Six of the eight Class B teams in the field are back from 2023. No. 2 Warner surely wants to avenge its loss in last year’s title matchup, and No. 3 Hitchcock-Tulare also hails from the powerhouse Region 1B. Lower seeds Burke, Gayville-Volin, Colman-Egan and Castlewood are all among the experienced state tournament programs looking to make a run.

But the Flyers are loaded, have a lot of big-match experience at the state tournament and a veteran coach in Jean O’Hara. For all of the skill and ability, Chester still has only two seniors on the roster and the Flyers appear to be in position to go back-to-back.

Dierks covers prep and collegiate athletics across the Mitchell Republic’s coverage region area. His focus areas include: Mitchell High School football and boys basketball; area high school football, volleyball, basketball, baseball and track and field; and South Dakota State football. He is also at the forefront of the Mitchell Republic’s podcasting efforts. Dierks is a Mitchell native who graduated from South Dakota State University with his bachelor’s degree in journalism in May 2020. He joined the Mitchell Republic sports staff in August 2021. He can be reached at ldierks@mitchellrepublic.com and found on Twitter at @LDierksy.

Mark Fox, chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, called Gov. Doug Burgum’s recent nomination for secretary of the Interior and National Energy Council chair a “match made in heaven” for North Dakota tribes.

President-elect Donald Trump announced his unique plans for Burgum on Friday. In the combined role, Burgum would not only lead the Department of the Interior — which includes the Bureau of Indian Affairs — but also wield power over all federal agencies that regulate energy.

Fox and other North Dakota and South Dakota tribal leaders welcomed the news.

Burgum, who first took office in 2016, is credited with improving North Dakota’s once-tenuous relationship with local tribes.

While in office, Burgum advocated for tax-sharing agreements with Native nations, added a permanent display of all five tribal flags outside the governor’s office and pushed for law enforcement partnerships to improve emergency response times on reservations.

“Governor Burgum understands Indian country and the challenges we face, such as the need for public safety, better tribal education, and economic development in Indian country, among other needs,” David Flute, former chair of the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe, said Friday in a statement to the North Dakota Monitor. Flute is now secretary of the South Dakota Department of Tribal Relations.

Burgum will succeed Interior Secretary Deb Haaland of New Mexico, a member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first Native American Cabinet secretary.

Tribal officials say Burgum could be a crucial ally in Washington.

“I would have been so disappointed had he not been appointed to a Cabinet position,” Fox said Friday.

Brad Hawk, executive director of North Dakota’s Indian Affairs Commission, said Burgum has a unique opportunity to reduce red tape for Native nations.

Hawk said he wasn’t familiar with every aspect of Haaland’s administration, but appreciated her department’s work investigating the history of federal Indian boarding schools and their impact on Native communities.

State Rep. Lisa Finley-DeVille, D-Mandaree, whose district includes Fort Berthold, recognized Burgum’s progress in establishing meaningful relationships with tribes, but said she worries about Trump administration policies.

“I hope that future Secretary Burgum remembers the trust and relationships that he’s built with North Dakota’s five Tribal Nations,” Finley-DeVille said in a statement. “My hope is that future Secretary Burgum will work collaboratively with tribes to ensure our voices are heard in decision-making processes. Together, we can address critical issues such as sustainable development, cultural preservation, and economic opportunity.”

Finley-DeVille added the Department of the Interior needs to protect tribal sovereignty, honor treaty rights, and ensure that development is conducted responsibly and with the full consultation of all impacted tribal nations.

Fox said Friday he’s hopeful Burgum will use his position in Washington to help create a friendlier regulatory environment for the MHA Nation and other oil-rich tribes. The MHA Nation is based on the Fort Berthold Reservation, home to nearly 3,000 active oil wells.

“We’re able to sit down and talk,” Fox, the MHA Nation chair, said of Burgum earlier this year. “That’s the key.”

Fox noted that in contrast, the MHA Nation has never gotten an audience with Haaland, despite several attempts to speak with her.

This past June, Burgum acknowledged at an event that relations between the state and tribes were at a low point when he took office in 2016. At the time, protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline in southern North Dakota were ongoing, involving thousands of demonstrators who flocked to the state to camp in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe in opposition to the pipeline.

Burgum said one of the first things he did as governor was reach out to Dave Archambault, chair of Standing Rock at the time, and offer to come meet with tribal leaders.

“That’s where we were starting from: with a commitment to each other to listen to each other,” Burgum said during this year’s Strengthening Government to Government conference, an annual event started under his leadership that brings together state and tribal leaders.

U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said he thinks Burgum’s experience working with North Dakota tribal leaders makes him a good fit for leading Interior. He characterized the current BIA as unresponsive and bureaucratic.

“Doug has done more for Indian relations in North Dakota than any governor in my lifetime, for sure, and maybe ever,” Cramer said.

Michael Achterling contributed to this report.

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