Dayna Jansen Van Doorn - Standing Tall

Women’s Volleyball
Middle Blocker
Fourth Year
6’4”

When Dayna Jansen Van Doorn was starting grade 12 at Langley Christian, she was also starting her first year of high school volleyball. Five years later she’s starting her fourth season at Trinity Western as one of the country’s best middle blockers, and just spent the summer playing with the senior national team. To say she’s made great strides in that time would be an obvious understatement, but it’s all been part of the incredible growth Dayna has shown since she came to TWU four years ago.

“We knew that she was going to be good over time but she exceeded our expectations on the time-line,” says Spartans Head Coach Ryan Hofer, who called her a diamond in the rough when they recruited her. “She started making an impact in her second year and by that summer she was on the National Team.”

The Spartans, and their 6’4 middle blocker, have risen to national prominence in Dayna’s time at TWU. Her freshman year in 2004-05 the team went from 8-12 in Canada West. In 2005-06 they were 15-5 in the regular season, with a bronze in the Canada West playoffs, and made their first ever trip to nationals, finishing fifth with wins over St Mary’s and Alberta. Last season they again went 15-5, and made their second straight trip to nationals, finishing fourth. “JVD” as her teammates call her, was second in the conference in solo blocks (26), total blocks (123) and blocks per game (1.16). She was also fifth with a .317 hitting percentage, and sixth in service aces per game.

From that success, Dayna took another big step this past summer, participating in two international events. One was for Canada’s FISHU games team that played in Thailand, and the other was with the senior national team in Olympic qualifying, where she helped Canada to a fourth place finish.

Now beginning her fourth season at TWU, Dayna is excited to help the Spartans take more big strides for 2007-08. “I think our team has a lot of potential to go far. I think we’re going to do really well once we come together and I’m really excited to get started.”

Her coach sees her doing even more. “Her role is going to be to score points for us by blocking and attacking,” Coach Hofer explains. “She is a force at the net and it will be her job to patrol it. We also see her as a future captain and it has been good to see her take more responsibility as a leader.”

Being a leader is a responsibility Dayna takes seriously. “I’m excited to take on the challenge of being a leader on the team,” she says. “I’ve always looked up to the older girls, and now that half of them are gone, I have a chance to be someone that other girls look up to. I’m going to use what I’ve learned from my experiences to help better the team.”

As an education major, she hopes to make a career of being a leader and role model as a teacher. “I love kids and the opportunity to impact these kid’s lives. I can think back and tell you the names of teachers that have impacted my life, and I want to be one of those.”

As one of the coaches of BC’s U-18 girls volleyball squad, JVD has a chance to combine two of her greatest passions. “I love the opportunity to coach because it’s taking two things I love and putting it into one. This year I coached an U-18 team that are close to my age, and they can really relate to me. I love that relationship that we have. It’s amazing, and I really enjoy it.”

This year will be Dayna’s most challenging yet as a leader, middle blocker, national team member, coach and teacher. As she has throughout her Spartan career, she will take it all in stride.

-TW-

Last Updated: 2008-07-15
Author: Jeff Kilpatrick
Email: Jeffrey.Kilpatrick@twu.ca