Mitchell senior Addie Siemsen picked to Class AA all-state volleyball second team

Nov. 28—MITCHELL — Mitchell High School senior volleyball standout Addie Siemsen was recently selected to the Class AA all-state second team by the South Dakota Volleyball Coaches Association.

She is the first all-state selection for Kernel volleyball since Lizzie Tyler was a second-team selection in 2021.

For the season, the 5-foot-8 setter Siemsen had 623 assists 198 kills, 76 blocks and a team-best .297 hitting percentage, plus 263 digs and 54 aces. On a per-set basis for the Kernels, she was first in aces, second in kills and third in digs.

She was a Class AA all-tournament selection as the Kernels finished eighth in Class AA and won 16 matches, a 13-win turnaround from the 2024 season.

"She's done a great job of running our offense and making us balanced," Mitchell coach Deb Thill said earlier this season. "We knew running a 5-1 (offense) with her that we were going to give her opportunities to swing and opportunities to get kills because of her ability to do so. I think that shined very much this year. Not a lot of setters can do what she can do. She's a tremendous athlete and a great leader for our team."

Siemsen finished her career with 1,429 assists, 574 kills, 735 digs and 137 service aces. She posted many of her match highs for her career in 2025, including 26 digs and 53 assists in a home win over Rapid City Stevens on Oct. 11. She had a career-best 19 kills against Pierre and nine blocks against Brookings in 2024. She intends to play college basketball at Augustana University.

The all-state first-team selections included Harrisburg senior Gabi Zachariasen and sophomore Josalyn Samuels, Sioux Falls O'Gorman seniors Lauren Venenga and Makenzie Walsh, Brandon Valley senior Abby Gruber, Sioux Falls Jefferson senior Sienna Sabers and Sioux Falls Lincoln senior Julia Blom.

Zachariasen finished her senior season with 523 kills and a rate of 5.2 kills per set, including a hitting percentage of .377, plus 81 aces, 40 blocks and 215 digs. For her career, she finished with 1,802 kills and a career hitting percentage of .293, plus 122 total blocks, 924 digs and 171 assists. She has signed to play college volleyball at the University of South Dakota and will enroll in Vermillion in January.

Her teammate frequently setting her up, the sophomore Samuels, finished the season with 1,050 set assists for the state champion Tigers, plus 58 total blocks. 35 aces and 93 kills on a .412 hitting percentage. She's started as a setter since the eighth grade and has 2,974 assists for her career.

Venenga, a 5-foot-10 outside hitter tallied 362 kills, 70 aces and 223 digs, and Walsh, a 6-foot-3 right-side hitter, finished with 238 kills and 50 blocks for the state runner-up Knights. Both are set to play Division II volleyball, with Walsh committed to Southwest Minnesota State and Venenga pledged to Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida.

Gruber, a 5-foot-11 middle/outside hitter, finished with 262 kills, 33 aces and 42 blocks for Brandon Valley, which finished third in the Class AA state tournament. She finished with a career hitting percentage of .306, with 592 kills and 104 total blocks over her three-year career. Gruber has signed to play volleyball at Augustana University.

Sabers finished the season with 397 kills, 32 blocks and 34 aces, powering the Cavaliers to the state tournament despite holding the No. 11 seed in the Class AA postseason. She is pledged to play collegiate volleyball at Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Blom led the defensive play for Lincoln, which was the fifth-place finisher at the state tournament. She had 38 aces, 106 assists and 401 digs. Blom has committed to play college volleyball at Augustana University.

In addition to Siemsen, the Class AA second team included Aberdeen Central junior Lauryn Burckhard, Harrisburg senior Lindsay Langner, Brandon Valley sophomore Logan McGuire and junior Mya VanWesten, Watertown junior Andi Olson and Sioux Falls Lincoln sophomore Mallory Schneider.