Lions name volleyball coaches

Jennifer Dorn has been named women’s volleyball coach at Vanguard University and her husband, Kristofer Dorn, will coach the Lions’ inaugural women’s beach volleyball team, the school announced Tuesday.

Jennifer Dorn, a former All-American middle blocker at USC, where she was a four-time All-Pac-10 honoree, replaces Eryn Leja, who guided the Lions the last six seasons.

Jennifer Dorn spent the last two seasons as a men’s and women’s assistant coach at Lindenwood University in Missouri. Her 15-year coaching experience includes time as an assistant at Clarke University in Iowa, Cal Baptist in Riverside and Samford University in Alabama.

“I couldn’t be more excited to come back to California and join the Vanguard family,” said Jennifer Dorn, who starred at Linfield Christian High in Temecula. “To me, coaching is more than just the training in the gym; it’s about mentorship, relationships, growth in our walk with Christ, and our academic success.”

Kristofer Dorn was the head men’s coach at Lindenwood the last four seasons.

He was head men’s coach at Clarke University for four seasons and also spent time as an assistant for the men’s and women’s programs at Cal Baptist.

At Clarke, he was twice named Coach of the Year in the Mid-American Men’s Volleyball Intercollegiate Conference.

He was head coach of the Newport Beach Sea Hawks in the inagural season of the American Professional Volleyball League in the mid-2000s.

“The thought of building something from scratch and recruiting a team of young athletes that are passionate and driven is very exhilarating,” Kristofer Dorn said. “Beach volleyball is fresh, new and growing within the collegiate realm, and Vanguard is a phenomenal place for the team to call home.”

— From staff reports