By Rich Winter

605 Sports

While the vast majority of South Dakota sports fans may not recognize the name Katelyn Schroeder, Region 1B is well aware of this multi-sport standout. 

Schroeder, a 6-foot junior from Hitchcock-Tulare, topped the 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs milestones earlier this year and topped 1,000 points on the basketball court this season. The volleyball numbers are surprising because Schroeder missed most of her sophomore year because of injury. 

“My foot started hurting during track season, my left foot, my jumping foot and after the state meet we decided to get the foot checked out,” Schroeder said. 

A member of the Matchbox Volleyball Club in Aberdeen, and a member of its national team, Schroeder was devastated when her volleyball offseason was interrupted in the summer between her freshman and sophomore years. 

“I found out about four days before we left for the national tournament in Florida,” Schroeder said. “At first I just wore a boot but when we got back from Florida I had surgery.”

Despite missing most of her sophomore volleyball season, playing just a handful of games, Schroeder made the Class B all-state honorable mention team with 119 kills and 105 digs. 

Hitchcock-Tulare basketball coach Kristi Smith chuckles a bit remembering the first time she ever subbed Schroeder into a basketball game during her seventh-grade season. 

“We were playing against Sully Buttes and coach Mark Senftner and on the first play she grabs an offensive rebound and puts it back,” Smith said. “I kinda thought man coach Senftner isn’t going to have a clue who this girl is. On the next possession she comes down and hits a 3-pointer and that was the first time we’d beaten Sully Buttes in a long time.”

Smith notes that Schroeder is a volleyball-first player but called the junior a hard-worker and a dedicated athlete that could easily play college basketball. 

“She’s a guard but plays like a post,” Smith said. “When we need points she can go down and post up on anyone. She’s just so versatile.”

In the summertime, while focusing most of her attention on volleyball, Schoeder attended the South Dakota State University basketball skills camp and put up enough shots to reach the 10,000 shot club. 

“Even though volleyball is her main thing she puts in time for basketball,” Smith saId. “When she’s playing with the national volleyball team, she writes down all of her workouts for me to see.”

A farm girl through and through, occasionally coach Smith gets a call that says, “Hey, we are moving cattle today and I won’t be able to make it.”

The Hitchcock-Tulare basketball team finished the year 7-15, with Schroeder averaging 14 points, 6.5 rebounds per game and 1.9 assists per game. Schroeder comes from a basketball family as her father, Jim Schroeder, a Tulare graduate, played basketball at South Dakota State University. Her aunt, Jodi Schroeder was a Spirit of Su winner from Tulare that later went on to play basketball at the University of South Dakota. Her mother Erin was a multi-sport athlete that grew up in Minnesota and specialized in fast-pitch softball. 

Despite that basketball influence Schroeder said her family has been nothing but supportive of her volleyball ambitions. 

“My dad knows I’m leaning toward volleyball,” she said. “You have to specialize in that during the summer and my family has accepted that and been supportive.” 

Schroeder has been a starter on the Hitchcock-Tulare volleyball team since her eighth-grade season. That year the Patriots made the state tournament. During the 2023 volleyball season it looked like Hitchcock-Tulare might make another appearance at the Class B state tournament. 

After defeating Northwestern in a Region 1B semifinal, the Patriots lost in straight sets to a Faulkton Area team they had beaten during the regular season. 

“I think we came into that match a little comfortable,” Schroeder said. “They were a senior-laden team, and a much different team than we saw earlier in the season. They played a phenomenal match and it’s hard to play against a team that was on a roll like that.” 

Schroeder was named to the 2023 Class B all-state second team for volleyball with 380 kills and 412 digs. The Patriots return all of their starters from the volleyball and basketball teams for what Schroeder hopes is a big senior season. 

“Being so close last year I think our team has a huge expectation to make it to state next year,” she said.