MILLER – Miller graduated seven seniors from its fourth place team a year ago and still found a way to charge back into the state tournament, earning the No. 3 seed in the Class A portion of the tournament, which kicks off Thursday in Rapid City.

“They’re excited,” said Miller coach Linda DeBoer of her team. “They’re enthusiastic and energetic about it. I hope we can control our nerves. There’s not many kids with us this year that were on that fourth place team from 2022.”

The Rustlers (28-6) moved up to the third seed after an upset in the SoDak 16, but regardless of its path, DeBoer said her squad has been preparing for this since before the season even began.

“They started out going to camps together last summer,” she said. “That helped us get a preview on who was going to be able to fill the (empty) spots and get a feel on the talent and ability of our kids.”

To be fair, Miller took its share of lumps early in the season, including an early loss to Aberdeen Roncalli during which the Rustlers lost Paige Werdel to an ankle injury.

Werdel has since returned, and is second on the team in total kills heading into the tournament.

DeBoer said those early losses, most of which came against high-powered Class B squads like Warner and Wolsey-Wessington or quality Class A squads like Roncalli, helped shape the Rustlers into a confident squad in the last half of the season.

“Early in the season, we were making a lot of unforced errors,” she said. “I would say about the middle of season it started clicking. The Northwestern win (Sept. 12 in Mellette) was a good check for our kids midseason that we can play with some of the best.”

The Rustlers lean on hitters like Paige Werdel, Gracen Werdel and Aleah Schlechter to lead the offense, and players like Jolie Palmer to anchor the back row, but DeBoer noted that balance is the key to the team’s overall success.

“We don’t have that one go-to hitter,” DeBoer said. “Every night somebody different leads us in kills or percentage.”

Plus, with Palmer patrolling the back row, not much escapes the sophomore, who has already recorded her 1,000th career dig.

“We show a lot of heart and hustle to keep the ball up and keep us in matches,” DeBoer said.

Miller will need to muster those attributes when the Rustlers take on Wagner in the opening round of the tournament. The two teams did not meet during the regular season, but with Wagner making its second straight appearance at the state tournament, DeBoer knows Miller will have a challenge on its hands.

“They’re very tall, very athletic,” she said. “We’re going to have to play with heart and hustle over height to get this accomplished. They’ve got strong hitters and good blockers, so we’re going to have to be very sound defensively against their hitters.”

Miller and Wagner will cap off day one of the tournament, taking the court at 6:45 p.m. (MST) at the Summit Arena.