Amy Veenhof is entering her 17th season at helm, the longest-tenured coach in Dakota State University women’s volleyball program history. She holds the all-time volleyball program wins with 248 victories after the 2024 season. She led her squads to double-digit wins 14 times in the previous 15 seasons.
Veenhof led the 2024 team to their third appearance in the NAIA National Tournament Opening Rounds in the past six seasons. The Trojans finished with an overall record of 18-13, their sixth winning season in the previous seven seasons. DSU finished in a tie for third place with a 5-5 conference record in the final year of the North Star Athletic Association and was listed in the receiving votes (RV) of the NAIA Top 25 national poll through out the 2024 season.
The 2024 Trojans squad highlighted the season by producing a 3-2 victory over perennial powerhouse Jamestown (N.D.), advancing to the third North Star Athletic Association postseason tournament’s championship match. DSU fell to eventual NAIA national runner-up Bellevue (Neb.) and earned their at-large invitation to the national tournament.
Veenhof coached Sydney Schell and Madalyn Groft to a four-time NSAA All-Conference section. Schell became the all-time kills leader at Dakota State, surpassing the previous record holder by Carly Rozell. Schell and Groft joined Rozell as the only four-time NSAA All-Conference selections in the conference era.
Schell finished her four-year career as a three-time AVCA/NAIA Women’s Volleyball All-America Honorable Mention for Dakota State.
The 2023 Trojan squad was in a tie for fourth place in the NSAA standings and advanced to the semifinals round in the conference postseason tournament. Schell was named to NSAA All-Conference volleyball First Team, while Kate VanRooyan was named the conference’s Freshman-of-the-Year and Second Team All-Conference.
The Trojans completed their 2022 challenging schedule with 17 victories, earning third place in the NSAA conference standings. Veenhof, who also earned her 200th DSU coaching victory after defeating Georgetown (Ky.) in Florida’s tournament, guided to a pair of NAIA All-American recipients for the four consecutive seasons (Hannah Viet and Sydney Schell earning Honorable Mention accolades).
Four (4) athletes were named to the 2022 North Star Athletic Association Women’s Volleyball All-Conference teams.
Veenhof guided her 2021 squad to a record-breaking season, hitting their best winning percentage during her coaching era at Dakota State. The Trojans finished with an astounding 21-9 overall record (.700 winning percentage) and a third-place finish in the North Star Athletic Association with a 9-5 record.
The 2021 Trojan volleyball season was highlighted with a pair of victories over NAIA’s nationally ranked teams, including a road victory at No. 14 Dakota Wesleyan and a home victory over No. 8 ranked Bellevue (Neb.). As a result, Dakota State received an at-large invitation to the NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Tournament Opening Round for the second time in a span of three years.
Two Trojans were named NAIA Women’s Volleyball All-America athletes after the 2021-22 season. Maddie Polzin was named to the Third Team for the second consecutive year, the first volleyball athletes to be named to the All-America Third Team for two straight seasons in the same year (COVID season in 2020-21). Viet was also named to All-America Honorable Mention.
Three (3) athletes were named to 2021 NSAA Volleyball All-Conference First Team, while another athlete was named to All-Conference Second Team.
Veenhof collected her 200th career collegiate victory in their home opener versus Dickinson State (N.D.) at DSU Fieldhouse on Oct. 2, 2021.
The Trojans finished their 2020-21 season with 14-10 overall record during the COVID season, where volleyball was played during the fall and spring seasons. The Trojans advanced to the NSAA postseason semifinals round.
Veenhof guided the 2019 squad to one of the historic seasons in Trojan volleyball history. The Trojans finished second in the North Star Athletic Association standings and advanced to the conference postseason’s championship match for the second consecutive year.
The Trojans also cracked in the NAIA’s Top 25 national poll for the first time in program history at No. 22. Dakota State earned its first-ever bid to the 2019 NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Tournament Opening Round in school history and finished the season with an overall record of 19-13.
Veenhof and her squad had one of the most memorable 2018 season, which included a shocking victory over nationally ranked Viterbo (Wis.). The Trojans ended the V-Hawks’ historic 53-match North Star Athletic Association conference winning streak with a 3-1 home victory in the regular-season finale. The Trojans finished the 2018 season with an impressive 21-11 overall record, including their first appearance in the North Star Athletic Association postseason tournament’s championship match.
The NSAA volleyball head coaches selected Veenhof as its conference’s Coach-of-the-Year award in 2018. DSU also earned its first-ever NAIA Volleyball All-America recipient (Barbara Briceno - Honorable Mention in 2018 and Third Team in 2019) in program history. She coached two NSAA Volleyball First-Team recipients in back-to-back seasons in 2018 and 2019 (Barbara Briceno and Samantha Zell).
Her Trojan squad completed a successful season in 2015, recording back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in two decades. DSU also finished third overall in the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) conference standings with a 10-3 record in 2015, recording its most conference victories since 2004. Two (2) athletes were selected to the NSAA Volleyball All-Conference teams.
Veenhof coached four (4) NSAA All-Conference selections in 2014 after finishing the NSAA conference with second place in the standings with a 7-3 record. In addition, she coached an NSAA Freshman-of-the-Year athlete (Carly Rozell) and two-time NSAA Defensive Player-of-the-Year athlete (Katherine Gonzalez).
Veenhof also guided her 2011 DSU Volleyball team to their independent qualifying conference tournament – the Association of Independent Institution (A.I.I.) Conference Post-season Tournament in Phoenix, Ariz.
During her coaching tenure at Dakota State, Veenhof coached seven (7) spikers that surpassed 1,000 career kills and seven (7) athletes that amassed over 1,000 digs. She guided a setter (Stacey Schuller) that set an all-time school record for most career set assists, a hitter (Sydney Schell) that became all-time kills leader, and a defensive specialist (Peyton Groft) that became the all-time digs leader at DSU.
Veenhof has coached a total of twenty-two (22) All-Conference athletes, including the three athletes as the four-time North Star Athletic Association Volleyball All-Conference recipient (Rozell, Schell, and M. Groft).
Veenhof’s volleyball teams have also excelled in the classroom, where in her 17 years, 37 players earned Daktronics-NAIA Scholar Athlete honor. Her teams also consistently achieve above a 3.0 cumulative grade point average, earning NAIA Scholar-Team award 13 times. Her 2015-16, 2016-17, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24, and 2024-25 squads were selected to American Volleyball Coaches Association Team Academic award.
Veenhof coached at Si Tanka-Huron University for one season before taking the job at Northern State (S.D.). She also served as the head coach of the Northeast South Dakota (NESD) Junior Olympic volleyball club in Aberdeen for four years.
Veenhof was a two-year starter, two-time All-Conference and All-Region selection in both volleyball and softball at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minn. She also received All-American in volleyball. She was inducted into the Bethany Lutheran College Athletic Hall of Fame in October 2021.
Veenhof then transferred to Si Tanka University in Huron, S.D. where she was a two-year starter in both volleyball and softball. She received Academic All-American honors while at Si Tanka.
Veenhof is a native of Henderson, Minn. She earned her associate degree from Bethany Lutheran College, her bachelor’s degree from Si Tanka University and her master’s degree from Northern State University.
Amy and her husband, Casey, have three sons – Shane, Henry, and Frank.
