La CROSSE, Wis. – Samantha Zell, a junior outside hitter for the Dakota State University Trojans, was selected for the The North Star Athletic Association All-Conference first team.
The awards were handed out at the NSAA volleyball honors banquet last week.
Senior Barbara Briceno joined Zell on the first team for DSU.
Zell, a 6-foot-3-inch middle hitter/outside hitter, leads the Trojans with 110 blocks. She’s recorded 20 solo blocks and 90 block assists, and is fourth overall in the North Star conference in the blocks-per-set category.
Zell has also pounded home a total of 278 kills this season. She was named to the NSAA Volleyball Attacker-of-the-Week in October.
Samantha is the daughter of Bret Sypniewski and Stephanie North of Huron.
Also recognized was Amy Veenhof, the 10-year head coach at DSU, who earned the NSAA Coach of the Year Award.
Veenhof began her volleyball coaching career at Si Tanka University, after playing for the school’s volleyball and softball teams for two years.
This season, Veenhof guided the Trojans to their first winning season, home court winning record and most conference wins since 2015. DSU also recorded a pair of victories over NAIA’s Top 25 nationally-ranked teams from the North Star conference for the first time.Dakota State recorded its first-ever victory over NAIA Volleyball’s Top 10 nationally-ranked team at DSU Fieldhouse’s floor, ending NSAA’s regular-season champion Viterbo’s historic 53-match winning streak.
The unranked Trojans saw their season end in the championship game of the NSAA postseason tournament, as Viterbo exacted a bit of revenge.
