VERMILLION, S.D. –  South Dakota volleyball begins the 2026 season this weekend in Des Moines, Iowa for the Drake Invitational, hosted by Drake. 

The Coyotes opens the weekend against the Bulldogs on Friday night at 6 p.m. from Knapp Center. USD faces Milwaukee at 3 p.m. Saturday and closes the weekend against DePaul on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Quick Hitters

• Following a 20-9 overall record and 12-4 mark in the Summit League in 2025, South Dakota were picked t-2nd in the Summit League Volleyball Preseason Coaches' Poll. 
• Senior setter Avery Van Hook and junior outside hitter Lauren Medeck were tabbed as players to watch by the Summit League. 
• Van Hook ended the 2025 season as one of five players in the NCAA to record 1,000+ assists, 100+ kills and 300+ digs.
• The Coyotes' season opening opponent, Drake, was also picked to finish second in the Missouri Valley Conference Preseason Poll.
• DePaul was tabbed to finish fifth in the BIG EAST Preseason Poll and the Blue Demons' Kendall Timme was named to the Preseason All-BIG EAST Team.
• Over the past four seasons, the Coyotes are 7-3 in opening weekend tournaments. USD went 2-1 at the 2025 EVEN Hotel Bobcat Invite with wins over Montana State and Prairie View A&M but fell to then RV Oregon 2-1 in the season opener.
• There will be plenty of familiar faces on the South Dakota squad again this year with zero players leaving through the transfer portal and with no additions through the portal. The Yotes graduated just one senior (Kamryn Farris) from last year's roster.  
• South Dakota welcomes two freshmen to the team in Harrisburg, South Dakota native Gabi Zachariasen and Chloe Kmiecik from Shawnee, Kansas.
• Zachariasen was a three-time South Dakota Gatorade Player of the Year during her prep career.
• Leanne Williamson enters her 13th year leading the Coyotes and holds a 251-110 record. Williamson set Summit League records for overall career wins and conference wins in 2025.

How to Follow

• South Dakota's Friday match against Drake will be live streamed on ESPN+. The Coyotes matches against Milwaukee and DePaul will not be streamed.
• Live stats will be available at yote.us/stats.

Returning Production
·       The Coyotes return 92.3% of their points, 93.8% of kills and 97.8% of their blocks from 2025. 
·       Lauren Medeck headlines the returning production on the outside, as she put away 345 kills to lead the team despite missing five matches in her sophomore season.

• In total, USD returns its top-six in kills from last year. 
• Avery Van Hook is back to guide the Coyote attack after a stellar junior season where she dished out 1,153 assists (No. 32 in the NCAA) and held a 10.2 assists per set average (No. 36 in the NCAA).
• Morgan Bode (110 blocks) and Amanda Loschen (95.0 blocks) combined for over 200 blocks in 2025.
• The Coyote backrow retains 70.6% of its dig total from 2025, as now alum Kamryn Farris was responsible for 536 of USD's 1,885 digs. Farris was No. 24 in the NCAA in total digs in 2025. 
• The Yotes, however, return plenty of experience at defensive specialist as Sierra Pokharel and Samantha Untiedt recorded 240 and 238 digs in 2025. 

1,000-300-100 Club

• Avery Van Hook finished the 2025 campaign as one of five players in the NCAA to tally 1,000+ assists, 300+ digs and 100+ kills. 
• Van Hook recorded 20 double-doubles in 2025 and has 53 total in her career at USD. 
• She tallied five or more kills in 11 matches in 2025, and nearly recorded her first triple-double in a four-set match against Wichita State with 39 assists, 16 digs and seven kills.
• Van Hook set new career high marks in assists with 58 (twice) against Omaha and St. Thomas in digs with 22 in a reverse sweep of Florida Gulf Coast in the Sanford Coyote Sports Center. 

The Newcomers

• Chloe Kmiecik and Gabi Zachariasen are the two new faces on a roster that returns 15 players from last year's squad. 
• Kmiecik hails from Shawnee, Kansas where she was a three-time All-United Kansas Conference selection for De Soto High School. 
• The 6-2 middle led Kansas' Class 5A in her senior season with a .446 hitting percentage, was No. 2 in kills with 332 and No. 3 with 91 total blocks. 
• Kmiecik also had 34 aces and held a 3.8 kills per set average. 
• More information on Gabi Zachariasen below.

3x Gatorade Player of the Year

• Freshman Gabi Zachariasen enters the mix after a decorated prep career at Harrisburg High School (Harrisburg, S.D.) where she was a three-time South Daktoa Gatorade Player of the Year (2023-25) and the No. 92 ranked recruit in the country via PrepDig. 
• Zachariasen was a MaxPreps First Team All-American and AVCA All-American Second Team selection in 2025 after leading Harrisburg to a 35-2 record in 2025 and its fourth straight South Dakota Class AA State Championship. 
• She totaled 1,802 kills, 171 aces, 122 blocks and 924 digs in her prep career, and put away 523 kills with a .377 hitting percentage in her senior season alone. 
• She set the Harrisburg single-season kills record in her sophomore season with 529 and guided the Tigers to back-to-back undefeated seasons in 2023 and 2024.

Summit League Wins Leader

• Head coach Leanne Williamson made Summit League history last season as she became the winningest coach in conference history after reaching 249 overall wins and 147 Summit League wins in the same match against Kansas City (Nov. 8, 2025).
• Williamson enters year 13 at USD with 251 overall wins and 149 Summit League wins.
• Since taking over as the bench boss in 2014, the Coyotes have won over 15 games each year and 20+ six times. The Yotes put together a 31-3 record in the 2019 season, including a perfect 16-0 record in Summit League play.
• South Dakota has won 10 or more Summit League matches in 11 of the last 12 seasons under Williamson.

What Portal?

• The South Dakota roster saw minimal turnover from last season's team, graduating its lone senior in back-to-back Summit League Defensive Player of the Year, Kamryn Farris.
• Zero Coyotes entered the transfer portal in the spring, and the Yotes did not make any additions through the portal. 
• USD is one of a handful of programs (North Carolina, Navy, Santa Clara) to not lose a player to the portal and also to not sign a player through the portal this offseason (North Carolina, Navy, Santa Clara, Northern Iowa). 
• The Coyotes did sign a pair of freshmen in Gabi Zachariasen and Chloe Kmiecik.

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