Dallas Baptist University Athletics

Jordan Fish enters her fifth season as the Head Volleyball Coach at DBU, where she has quickly established the Lady Patriots as one of the premier programs in the nation. In just four years at the helm, Fish has guided DBU to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and orchestrated a historic 2023 campaign that saw the Lady Patriots capture their first-ever Lone Star Conference regular-season championship. For her leadership, she was honored as the 2023 Lone Star Conference Coach of the Year. Through four seasons, Fish has amassed an impressive 83-33 overall record, including a dominant 50-15 mark against LSC competition.
 
During her tenure, Fish has produced six AVCA All-Americans, highlighted by the school’s first-ever two-time All-American, Delaney Fuller (2023 & 2024). She has also mentored five All-South Central Region selections, including back-to-back AVCA South Central Region Players of the Year in AJ Koele (2022) and Fuller (2023). Under Fish’s guidance, 19 Lady Patriots have earned All-Lone Star Conference honors in the past four seasons, headlined by two-time LSC Player of the Year, Delaney Fuller (2023 & 2024).
 
ALL-AMERICANS DURING FISH’S TENURE
Lauryn Burt (2022)
Delaney Fuller (2023 & 2024)
AJ Koele (2022)
Shaylee Shore (2023)
Halee Van Poppel (2021)
 
LONE STAR CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARDS DURING FISH’S TENURE
LSC PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
2024 - Delaney Fuller
2023 - Delaney Fuller
 
LSC NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR:
2022 - Lauryn Burt
2021 - Halee Van Poppel
 
LSC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
2024 - Delaney Fuller
2023 - Delaney Fuller
 
LSC SETTER OF THE YEAR:
2022 - Lauryn Burt
 
LSC ACADEMIC PLAYER OF THE YEAR:
2022 - Leah Palensky
 
YEAR-BY-YEAR
The 2024 season marked DBU’s third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. Entering the South Central Regional as the No. 4 seed, DBU pulled off a dramatic upset of 19th-ranked Colorado Mesa for the second straight year, sweeping the Mavericks in straight sets to advance to the Regional Semifinals. The Lady Patriots’ impressive run came to a close against No. 7 Angelo State, finishing the season with a 20-10 record and achieving their third consecutive 20-win campaign.
 
In 2023, DBU clinched their first-ever Lone Star Conference regular-season title after posting a 14-2 record in league play. During the Lady Patriots’ historic season, DBU upset No. 3 West Texas A&M, 3-2, on their home court on September 22 and won their last nine matches to clinch a share of the regular-season title. After earning the No. 5 seed in the South Central Regional, DBU upset No. 12 Colorado Mesa in the Quarterfinal round, 3-0, before falling in the Semifinals.
 
In one of the most decorated seasons in program history, Delaney Fuller was named an AVCA First Team All-American, the South Central Region Player of the Year, and garnered LSC Player of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year honors. Fuller set single-season school records in four categories, including kills (494), kills per set (4.33), points (563.0), and points per set (4.94).
 
The 2022 season was a record-setting year as the Lady Patriots won a school-record 25 matches and earned the program’s first-ever at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. DBU posted a 14-2 record versus conference foes to finish in second place in the Lone Star Conference standings. After qualifying for the LSC Tournament for the second consecutive year, the Lady Patriots reached the LSC Championship for the first time in program history, where they eventually fell to West Texas A&M. Making their first trip to the NCAA South Central Regional since 2013, the Lady Patriots took No. 18 Colorado Mesa to five sets before dropping a 3-2 decision.
 
DBU saw three players earn All-American recognition at season's end: Lauryn Burt, AJ Koele, and Shaylee Shore. Koele was also selected as the South Central Region Player of the Year and was joined by Burt and Shore on the All-South Central Region Team. Koele became the first player in program history to be named a First Team All-American after registering the nation's 20th-most kills (449) and ranked 16th in the country in kills per set (4.08).
 
Additionally, Burt was named the LSC Setter of the Year and the league’s Newcomer of the Year. Burt’s 1,194 assists ranked as the 21st-most in the country while Shore’s .386 hitting percentage was the 16th-best in the NCAA Division II ranks.
 
In her first year at the helm, Fish began a rebuilding project that saw her guide the Lady Patriots to a 14-8 record, marking their first winning season since 2015. She also led DBU to its first-ever win in the LSC Tournament, where the Lady Patriots reached the quarterfinal round.
 
Following the 2021 season, Halee Van Poppel was tabbed an AVCA Honorable Mention All-American and the LSC Newcomer of the Year after finishing the year with the seventh-highest kills per set (4.41) average in the country.
 
DBU’S SEASON RECORDS UNDER FISH
2021: 14-8
2022: 25-7 (NCAA Regional)
2023: 24-8 (NCAA Regional)
2024: 20-10 (NCAA Regional)
TOTAL: 83-33 (.715)
 
Fish came to DBU from Hill College, where she spent four seasons at the helm and developed the Rebels into one of the country's premier NJCAA Division I programs.  In four seasons at Hill, Fish led the Rebels to three trips to the National Tournament, four consecutive Region 5 North Championships, three conference titles, and a pair of undefeated conference seasons. 
 
Fish was recently named the Northern Texas Junior College Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2021 and was tabbed to the American Volleyball Coaches Association's (AVCA) Thirty Under 30 Coaches list, recognizing the top up-and-coming coaching talent in volleyball.  She was also a three-time District Coach of the Year and developed four players who received All-American honors during her four-year stint at Hill College.
 
Before arriving at Hill College in 2017, Fish served as the assistant coach at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina. She helped lead the Buccaneers to their best season in 30 years. Fish was the primary setting coach for Rachel Smith, who led the Big South in assists and was the only setter to be named to the All-Freshman team.
Fish was a standout in her own right on the court as a four-year letter-winner at the setter position at Virginia Tech.  As one of the all-time greats in program history, Fish finished her career ranked fifth all-time in assists in school history, topping the 2,500 assist milestone.  Fish also stood out in the classroom as a two-time All-ACC Academic Team selection. 
 
Following her collegiate career, Fish played professionally in Denmark and Sweden where she was a two-time Most Valuable Player selection and led her team to their first Final Four appearance in program history.  Fish also served as a head coach for the Amager VK 16U team and worked clinics at various local middle schools in Copenhagen.
 
In addition to her decorated volleyball coaching and playing careers, Fish has been a fixture serving in the communities she has been a part of.  Most recently, Fish developed and led weekly volleyball classes through Mission Waco, a Christian nonprofit organization serving the poor and marginalized.  She also helped coordinate and lead the first Fellowship of Christian Athletes Volleyball Academy for 3rd-6th graders in Waco.
 
During her time at Virginia Tech as a student-athlete, Fish was a three-year member of the Virginia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) and an active member of the campus ministry organizations Athletes in Action and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
 
Among her other experiences on and off the court, Fish served a 10-week internship with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes organization in Huntington Beach, California, in the summer of 2015 that focused on developing and equipping college players who wanted to know God more and use volleyball to impact their team and community.
 
Fish has also served abroad, working alongside a group of Virginia Tech athletes who traveled to Eleuthera, a small island in the Bahamas. They helped build a local church, taught sports, and fed and provided other basic needs for the Haitian refugee community.
 
Additionally, Fish traveled to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, as a student leader for a summer course focused on global citizen leadership and taught HIV/AIDS awareness and education through sports camps.
 
Fish is a 2015 graduate of Virginia Tech University with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and is pursuing a Masters in Organizational Leadership from Lincoln Christian University. Jordan is a member and actively involved at The Village Church.