Samantha Zell enters her third season as an assistant coach after a successful four-year career as an athlete. She also coaches the Trojan junior varsity volleyball team.
She assisted the Trojans in qualifying to the NAIA Women’s Volleyball National Tournament twice in the past three seasons. The 2021 season saw an impressive winning percentage in more than 15 years after going 21-9 overall record (.700 winning percentage).
Zell fueled DSU to a pair of impressive back-to-back winning seasons (2018 and 2019), which included a trip to the North Star Athletic Association (NSAA) conference postseason’s championship match each year.
In 2019, Zell was an integral member of the Dakota State volleyball team that was ranked in the NAIA’s Volleyball Top 25 national poll for the first time in school history. The Trojans earned an at-large invitation to the national tournament opening round for the first time in school history.
Zell was selected to the NSAA Volleyball and America Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)/NAIA Region First Team in 2018 and 2019.
She led the team with 118 blocks in 2019, accumulating a total of 355 blocks during her career at Dakota State. Her career blocks rank her third all-time in Trojan volleyball school record book. She also tied a single-match school record with 10 blocks versus Waldorf (Iowa) on Oct. 4, 2019.
Zell smashed a total of 877 kills during her career at Dakota State, including 238 kills in 2019.
