DEVILS LAKE — Madison Samuelson arrived on Lake Region State College’s campus after being recruited by Steve Waddell for nearly four years.
“Having her in this program was a dream for me,” Waddell said.
Eleven games into her Royals career, she suffered a season-ending injury. She sat out from early September to early November, all the way through LRSC’s run to the 2025 Region XIII championship.
“You learn a lot by watching,” Samuelson said.
But Samuelson doesn’t have to watch from the sidelines anymore.
The North Prairie alum is back on the court and contributing for LRSC volleyball in her sophomore year.
“I’m really happy to be back,” Samuelson said. “I have a lot that I want to work on. There’s a lot I want to get done, I want to prove. And so I’m really excited to be back with the team and playing with my girls.”
Samuelson had been the Royals’ top hitter before she went down last year. She was averaging 2.85 kills per set.
She tried to learn as much as possible while sitting on the bench.
“Watching Steve coach them, what they need to do, I just get to absorb all that and kind of see the court a little bit more,” Samuelson said. “So that helps me this year, for sure.”
Despite losing Samuelson, LRSC had a historic season for its volleyball program. The Royals went 29-11 overall and 7-3 in conference play. They took a set in the region championship but ultimately fell short to North Dakota State College of Science. It was the program’s winningest year, at least since online records started being tracked in 2014.
“I really, really like the group of girls that we have,” Samuelson said. “We get along really well. We’re just a big, huge family. So, a really nice environment to be able to be back to play in.”
Once she returned to the court this summer, it took some adjusting to get back into things.
“I didn’t start off too hot,” Samuelson said. “I mean, the preseason’s always a lot of work, so those long days, those long hours. I feel like I’m not where I want to be yet. Still got work to do, but definitely working my way there.”
Though she led the team in kills during the Opening Weekend Tournament in Rockford, Ill., which consisted of four matches, Waddell didn’t feel like Samuelson played at her best. Her kills-per-set isn’t quite what it was last year. In three of the four matches, she had as many or more errors than she had kills.
Going into Tuesday’s home opener, Waddell had a simple message for her.
“I just want Madi back,” he said.
Returning to the familiar Devils Lake Sports Center, Samuelson felt at home.
“I really like the support that we have here,” she said. “It’s such a small college, such a big family. Just being able to show up and play in front of the home crowd, being able to have a little bit more confidence, and obviously the encouragement from everyone definitely helped me out a lot.”
The Royals won all six sets they played over the next two days in Devils Lake after going 2-2 on the road. Samuelson impacted the games not just with her kills, but with her serves and digs.
Waddell was much more pleased with her performance.
“She delivered,” he said. “She did her job, and she’s great.”
For Waddell, this has been a long time coming.
He began recruiting Samuelson when she was a high school freshman. Samuelson accumulated 1,301 kills and 1,576 digs throughout her prep career for North Prairie. Her Cougars career culminated in being named the Region 4 Senior Athlete of the Year. After all of her development and all of that time, Waddell’s first season having her as a player was cut short.
“Getting to actually coach her this year has been phenomenal,” Waddell said. “She’s just good all the way around.”
Samuelson’s familiarity with Waddell and the LRSC program has helped, too. While she was in high school, she played for the club that Waddell runs.
“Being able to finally have him more as a [coach], definitely someone to look up to,” Samuelson said. “He’s very smart, knows what he’s doing. So it’s really fun to be able to join him, and kind of come in with a little bit of a head start on how he does things. There’s definitely a lot that I learned coming here, for sure.”
One development the Royals enjoyed last year was the breakout of Anne Stroklund, who led the team in kills — particularly key in Samuelson’s absence. They now have the luxury of Stroklund and Samuelson being back on the same court, along with new players who have made instant impacts like Cheryl Hayes, Myia Knox and Kenzie Neighbors.
“We have such a lot of talent coming in,” Samuelson said. “We have such a high ceiling, so now we need to use all that talent and play as a team.”
For as much as Waddell looks to Samuelson to be one of his top hitters, what makes her especially valuable is the overall game she plays. Samuelson came into the homestand ranked first on the team in kills and fourth in digs. In her abbreviated 11-game season last year, she was first on the team in kills per set and second in digs per set.
She plays defense just as well as she plays offense.
“I knew Madi was a great six-rotation player,” Waddell said. “She plays middle-back defense better than a lot of players. So we like having her back there, and I think the spark that she gives us in the back row is just as important as the spark she gives us in the front row. So she’s just getting better every night.”
With two home matches under her belt, Samuelson heads into the rest of the season having regained a little comfort.
“It’s been a little bit of a slower start, but we’re really starting to trust each other,” she said. “We’re getting our serve-receives a lot better, and our serving. So that’s a really big part of just trusting each other and playing together.”
The Royals opened the season in Illinois and now head to Mason City, Iowa.
They’re 4-2 in the early going of defending a 29-11 season.
“I think we need to keep on trusting each other,” Samuelson said. “Just having that bond together, we all have our own role and we do very well at it, and we just need to keep doing that and being able to trust each other to do that role.”