Hillsdale volleyballer Jessica Dean commits to UC Riverside

Now, the sisters are set to transfer to two neighboring Southern California colleges, with the younger Dean on May 19 committing to play volleyball at UC Riverside, just 15 minutes up the road from La Sierra University, where Ashleigh will transfer to play softball.

“Athletically … I’m working really hard this summer,” Jessica Dean said. “So, I feel like athletically I really want to make the best of the next four years and put my heart out on the court, and hopefully win the WCC.”

Playing in the West Coast Conference, Dean will collide with longtime teammate Victoria Vanos, who is committed to play at UC Davis next season. The two have been playing side by side since Dean started playing club volleyball in middle school. The best friends, and four-year varsity standouts at Hillsdale, have never played head-to-head in an organized volleyball match.

“No, we haven’t,” Dean said. “Which is really nerve-wracking.”

Dean admittedly has a nervous personality. She didn’t let that stop her from finding Vanos and the world of volleyball though.

Coming from a long line of softball players in her family, Dean grew up using her powerful right arm on the diamond as a catcher and third baseman. Along with Ashleigh, her oldest sister Sam Dean (CSM and Lindenwood University) and her mother Diane (Saint Mary’s) also played collegiate softball.

“I played softball up until seventh grade,” Dean said. “Then I told my mom I wanted to try volleyball. She was like: ‘No.’ So, I signed myself up for my first year at [the 650 Xtreme Volleyball Club] because my mom said I couldn’t.”

It’s safe to say Dean has paved her way in living up to her family’s collegiate standards. The recent Hillsdale graduate earned a two-for-two athletic scholarship, meaning after playing her first two seasons, she will receive a full scholarship for her junior and senior seasons.

Her commitment came late in the 2021-22 school year though, much in part to UC Riverside replacing its former head coach with the newly hired Nicky Cannon. Dean was being recruited during her fall season with Hillsdale, before Cannon’s hire, and was favoring the NCAA Division I program as she’d long dreamed of attending a Southern California college.

With Riverside scuffling through a 6-24 overall record in 2021, however, the coaching change put Dean’s commitment on pause, and, as she feared, possibly in jeopardy.

“I was kind of freaking out,” Dean said.

Once Cannon was hired in April, it didn’t take long for Dean’s fears to be allayed. One phone call from Cannon was all it took not only to keep Dean’s recruitment on track, but for her to make her college choice, as she was given a formal offer during the phone conversation, she said.

“We instantly clicked,” Dean said. “I felt like she had already coached me. I felt like we already knew each other.”

Dean finished her Hillsdale career with a flourish.

While she and her outside hitting counterpart Vanos led a balanced arsenal, Dean ultimately paced the Knights with 420 kills and 4.5 kills per set. She ranked second on the team in serving (55 aces), third in blocking (42 total blocks) and second in digs (386). Dean and Vanos were named Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division co-MVPs, and shared Daily Journal Volleyball Player of the Year honors.

Yet Dean and Vanos have always been teammates, never rivals. That is set to change in 2022 when Riverside and Davis meet in WCC play.

“We always joke about it,” Dean said. “It’s actually really funny. But we’re also really excited.”