Russ Rose Then (2010): “Deja was recently recognized as Kentucky’s Miss Volleyball. She’s an explosive outside hitter with the physical tools to become a dominant outside attacker. I feel that Deja is going to be one of our key offensive players this year and into the future. She hits high and hard and has a variety of shots. I think her game is suited to step in and make contributions at the net as soon as we start going. She blocks and hits well. Usually young players do one or the other.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Deja was a terrific athlete. She hit the ground running when she came in as a freshman. She was the National Freshman of the Year, and a 4-time All American while she was here. Deja was strong in areas that were weaknesses for some other players. She was a great blocker on the left side and an exceptional middle back player. There were matches where her greatest contributions were her blocking and her digging, even though there were also a number of matches where she would lead us in hitting. Deja was an exceptional all-around player and cared about the team. She spent some time with the National Team and played professionally overseas for a number of years, as well as for Athletes Unlimited.”
2010 Season (Freshman)Highlights and Awards: 2010 National Champion … AVCA Division I National Freshman of the Year … AVCA Second Team All-American — the only freshman to earn a spot on the 2010 AVCA All-America teams … NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player, joining Stanford’s Kerri Walsh as the only freshmen to win that honor … NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team … AVCA Mideast Region Freshman of the Year … AVCA All-Mideast Region … Big Ten Freshman of the Year … First Team All-Big Ten … Unanimous Big Ten All-Freshman Team … Carolina Classic All-Tournament Team …Hampton Inn Classic All-Tournament Team … Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week (9/6, 11/22) … Big Ten Freshman of the Week (9/20, 11/15) … her .331 attack percentage ranked 4th on the team and 7th in the Big Ten.
Season Recap: Started all 37 matches and played in 122 sets at outside hitter … ranked 2nd on the team with 418 kills and 3.43 kills per set … led the team in kills 13 times, posting double-digits 24 times and 15 or more kills 9 times … recorded a career-best 20 kills on two occasions, including at Purdue (10/8) and in the University Park Regional Final vs. Duke (12/11) … tallied 230 digs (1.89 digs per set) for the season… had 5 or more digs 23 times … had 5 double-doubles, including 12 kills with no errors and a personal-best 16 digs at Wisconsin (9/26) … registered 84 total blocks for the season with at least 1 block in 31 matches … debuted with a career-best 6 blocks at North Carolina (8/27) … recorded 23 aces for the season, with at least 1 ace in 18 matches.
Before Penn State: Four-year letterwinner at Dupont Manual Magnet … named Miss Kentucky Volleyball, Kentucky Gatorade Player of the Year and an Under Armour All-American … earned a 3rd place finish at the 2006 USA Junior Olympic Championships … named MVP and won a gold medal at USAV High Performance Championships …placed 5th and was selected to the All-Tournament Team at 2007 USA Junior Olympic Championships … selected Prepvolleyball.com ‘Freshman 59,’ ‘Top 50 Junior Recruits’ and ranked 7th on ‘Senior Aces’ … First Team Kentucky All-State … named to the 2008 USAV Youth National Training Team and was a 2009 USAV Youth National Team Invitee … was a four-time AAU All-American … Volleyball Magazine ’30 Underclassmen to Watch’ … 2009 JVDA National Champions and selected to JVDA All-Tournament team.
