Two Weber State volleyball players are putting the finishing touches on their all-time great careers at the school.

Outside hitter Dani Richins and libero Makayla Sorensen have a handful of matches left to play and add to totals that top lists in the WSU record book.

“Makayla is one of the best liberos in Weber State history and helped us win championships and NCAA Tournament games,” head coach Jeremiah Larsen said. “But more importantly, she’s just a calming influence on that court, you know? Incredibly blessed that Makayla got to come play here.”

Richins, the sixth-year senior, said she first met Larsen as a 12-year-old, which means the two have known each other for half of Richins’ life.

“She’s like one of my daughters, you know. I couldn’t say enough about the type of people they both are and what they’ve done to transform this program,” Larsen said. “And it’s never like, ‘Oh, I wonder if Dani and Makayla are going to play hard in practice today.’ There’s a lot of miles under those shoes and I don’t ever remember feeling like Dani or Makayla ever came and just checked in … and that’s what makes an elite athlete.”

Richins is just the second WSU player to ever receive AVCA All-America honors, which she did in 2021. She’s the program’s all-time leader in service aces (200, previous record 173). Her mark of 140 matches is currently tied for third all-time; with at least three matches left for the team, she could tie former teammate Rylin Adams for second at 143 and a Big Sky tournament run could mean reaching former teammate Ashlyn Power in first at 145.

Richins is second all-time in kills with 1,766, now a full 100 ahead in the spot and first in the rally-scoring era, and first in all-time total attacks at 5,206.

And here career 1,330 digs are good for fifth all-time.

“It always seems like she knows exactly what to say to the team, exactly what to do, how to lead,” Sorensen said about Richins. “She always knows what to do on the court, she keeps us together as a team and she’s like the life of the party. She’s friends with every single person on the team.”

Richins now has a master’s in health care administration and has juggled her career accomplishments with finishing two nursing programs, completing clinical hours at hospitals and getting married.

Digs are where liberos show up, and Sorensen has topped them all. She’s easily No. 1 on WSU’s all-time digs list with 1,649 and counting (previous record: 1,578).

“She’s hands down the best libero in the conference and has been all her years here,” Richins said about Sorensen. “You know she’s always giving her best, she’s just doing her job … you can always trust she’s just going to be there.”

Sorensen’s academics are also impressive. She’s completed degrees and was recently accepted into a physician’s assistant program.

“I just hope I’m remembered by like working hard,” Sorensen said. “I hope that’s the legacy I can leave here is working hard every single play, at practice, at games, so if people see my name in the record book, I hope they’re like, ‘yeah, she worked hard.'”

With a home split (beat Montana, lost to Montana State), Weber State is now 17-8 overall and 10-3 in the Big Sky, good for second place. WSU finishes the regular season on the road with ninth-place Northern Arizona and third-place Northern Colorado before the Big Sky Tournament (Nov. 22-24 in at Northern Colorado).

Newsletter