Annika Stephens – BHJ Club Director

Annika first started playing volleyball in third grade and she hasn’t stopped since. She was lucky enough to be around during the creation of the Black Hills Juniors, and she played with the club for six years. After she graduated from Central high school in 2013, she went to Dakota State University, where she played all four years. Annika was also a coach for the Madison Area Volleyball Club as well. After she graduated college, she moved to Virginia Beach where she still played volleyball, and was fortunate enough to help with camps at local high schools. Now that she moved back to Rapid City, she has been blessed and is excited after coaching in the club for the past two years and has now taken over as the new BHJ Club Director.

Sarah Tucker – BHJ Assistant Director 

Sarah is a graduate of Rapid City Central and went on to play volleyball at National American University for a year before transferring to Huron University where she finished her collegiate career. She graduated with a bachelors degree in Elementary Education in 2005 and returned home to coach three years at Saint Thomas More and two years at Rapid City Central. She has coached six years with the Black Hills Juniors and this her fourth year as the Assistant Director. Sarah owns and operates a home daycare and helps frequently with volleyball in our area. Sarah and her husband Todd share four children; Makenna, Kaylee, Kayson, and Bentley.

Lorie Whiting – Activities Advisor

A Nebraska native, Lorie was born and raised on a small rural dairy farm. She was recruited to play basketball at SD Mines but ended up playing volleyball instead. Playing volleyball for all four years at Mines, she helped her team win four consecutive conference titles and earned the nickname “The Wall”. After graduating as a metallurgical engineer from Mines, she had careers in Salt Lake City, UT and Wahoo, NE before marrying her husband Kelly. She has coached at the elementary, middle school, high school and college levels in Rapid City. The Westside Elementary Volleyball Program was organized and run by Lorie from 2008 thru 2015 which gave a lot of younger players their first exposure to the sport of volleyball. Lorie and her husband have two daughters….Cate (Setter on the University of Alaska Fairbanks volleyball team) and Tessa (member of the 2018 Stevens Raider Championship Team). She enjoy’s teaching the fundamentals of this game to younger players and watching them have fun while improving their skills.