Today is the Eastern South Dakota Conference tennis meet for Mitchell and eight other schools. The tournament will be in Huron and begins at 8 a.m.
Kernels tennis has had a successful regular season, going 18-3 in matches, and are strong contenders going into this conference tournament. The Kernels have taken the past two class A state tournaments.
Mitchell head tennis coach Patrick Moller said this team’s success has been the culmination of years of work.
“This group started working hard six or seven years ago, all kind of building toward this,” Moller said. “They’ve put a lot of hours on the court. That along with the experience … we’ve got a lot of girls that have played in multiple ESD tournaments and state tournaments over the years. That’s something you don’t get a chance to coach very often.”
Moller said he sees the groundwork for years of success being laid by the upperclassmen.
“It’s infectious. Those younger girls see that and they start to formulate a plan for them to be that some day. The old adage is success breeds success, and we’re kind of seeing that here.”
The state tennis tournament will be next Monday and Tuesday in Sioux Falls.