RAPID CITY - Rapid City Central volleyball coach Shelly Wolfe could get used to this state tournament thing.

Wolfe, the Cobblers' first-year head coach, became the biggest school in South Dakota's volleyball coach this year after leading St. Thomas More to a fourth-place finish at the Class A state tournament in 2007. The Cobblers are in the Class AA state tournament under Wolfe's direction this week after missing the event in 2007.

"We're pretty darn happy to be walking across the street to play in the state tournament," Wolfe said of her No. 8 seed Cobblers, who will be taking on top-seeded Aberdeen Central in the first round at noon Thursday. "I think that AA is really wide open this year. Whoever is playing well this weekend is going to come out on top and I love our chances. We feel like in a tournament this close that we might as well be playing the No. 1 seed first."

All three classes - Class B, A and AA - will be playing at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center from Nov. 20-22.

Wolfe and the Cobblers enter the state tournament with a 20-15 record and plenty of good feelings about how they've been playing down the stretch.

"We're playing well and we're really excited to get here," Wolfe said. "Everybody knew that this team had a lot of talent, we just needed to learn to play as a team. I think that's become a real strength of this team. A lot of that is discipline and having trust in each other. We needed to learn to worry about doing our own jobs, taking care of our own responsibilities, and not worry about making every play all over the floor."

That learning has exhibited itself the most on the defensive side of the ball, something that Wolfe feels has been vital to the state tournament run.

"Our defense has improved a ton over the year," she said. "That keeps us in a lot of matches."

The improved play on the defensive side of the net has allowed the Cobbler offensive attack to flourish. One might think that having an individual standout like 2007 all-stater Caitlin Templeton could make the Cobbler attack a little predictable. Wolfe says that couldn't be further from the truth.

"We've got a lot of hitters, a lot of weapons," she said of an attack that includes Kattie Ranta, Kenzie Slater, Andrea Johnson, Courtney Carmichael and Lacey Lehman in addition to Templeton. "We're not a one-man team by a long shot. We've got six great hitters that can definitely put the ball down, and that keeps the other team guessing about who we're going to."

Obviously Wolfe's attention this weekend is going to be focused firmly on the Class AA tournament and her team's role in it, but she should be forgiven if she's caught taking a peek over at the Class A floor every now and again.

"To see Tommy (More) make it again is awesome," Wolfe said. "I'm so proud of those guys and if I get a chance I'm absolutely, definitely going to watch them."

With defending champion Stevens and Central in the Class AA tournament and More in the Class A, Wolfe is hoping this weekend can be something of a celebration of just how good volleyball is in the area.

"It's definitely a great weekend for volleyball out here," Wolfe said. "Hopefully we can get a huge crowd down there for all the Rapid City teams this weekend."