Dani Shepherd

Classroom

A Communications major minoring in Consumer Psychology at Penn, Shepherd has a 3.42 GPA. In 2012, she was named Academic All-Ivy and Philadelphia Inquirer Academic All-Area.

Character

Shepherd was voted team captain by her teammates for the 2013 season. Head coach Kerry Carr categorizes Dani as a “team first player who has concentrated her efforts on the team goal of winning an Ivy League championship this season.

Community

A volunteer with the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania since 2011, Shepherd meets weekly with her “Little Sister”, mentoring her in many ways. A member of Penn’s Tri Delta sorority, Shepherd was a key component of the sorority’s fundraising campaign for St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital each year since 2011. In addition to her charity and volunteer work, Dani serves on Penn’s Student-Athlete Advisory Council as the volleyball rep, fostering support among Penn’s 33 teams.

Competition

The NCAA Division I leader in digs-per-set (6.56), Shepherd was named AVCA Honorable Mention All-America, just the second such honoree in Penn history and the first since 2003. She was also an All-Region selection by the AVCA, just the third such selection in Penn history. Among Ivy League players, she was deemed top defender, earning the League’s first-ever Defender of the Year award and first-team All-Ivy honors, giving her two first-team All-Ivy selections in her career. During the 2012 season, Shepherd recorded 617 digs—a Penn single-season record. Entering the 2013 season with 1,350 digs, she sits third all-time in the Penn record books and holds five of the top-six single-game records for digs after serving as mainly a backup her freshman season.