Dana Rettke

Dana Lynn Rettke (born January 21, 1999) is an American professional volleyball player who currently plays for Vero Volley Monza in the Italian Serie A1 League. She played collegiate volleyball at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and is the first five-time AVCA First Team All American in collegiate history. Rettke was also a member of the U.S. national team and has won All-Big Ten honors in each of her five college seasons, was the 2019–20 Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year and the 2021-2022 winner of the Honda Sports Award for women's volleyball.

Early life

Growing up in Riverside, Illinois, Rettke graduated from Riverside Brookfield High School in 2017. She began playing basketball in first grade and volleyball in ninth grade. Although she had recruiting interest from multiple schools in the Big Ten Conference, Rettke decided to focus on volleyball after feeling overwhelmed during an open gym practice with Illinois Fighting Illini women's basketball players.

As a sophomore in October 2014, Rettke verbally committed to the Wisconsin Badgers women's volleyball team. An Illinois Player of the Year, she earned multiple All-American honors as a senior, ''USA Today'' first team and American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) second team.

College career

After high school, Rettke enrolled at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2017 and majored in business marketing. A middle blocker for the Wisconsin Badgers, she was the tallest member of the team when she joined. Starting in all 32 matches of 2017, Rettke played in 113 sets and averaged 4.39 points, 3.42 kills, 1.37 blocks, and 0.22 service aces. Rettke earned All-Big Ten and first-team AVCA All-American honors that season.

In 2018, Rettke again started all 32 matches. In 117 sets, Rettke averaged 3.74 kills and 1.54 blocks. For the second straight season, Rettke was on the All-Big Ten team and AVCA All-American first team.

As a junior in 2019, Rettke played in 32 of 34 matches with 30 starts, missing two matches due to a foot injury. Rettke had a team leading 3.75 kills per set, the fifth best in the Big Ten. Rettke was part of a team that qualified for the Elite Eight round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament. Rettke finished 2019 with her third consecutive All-Big Ten and first-team AVCA All-American honors and was the 2019–20 Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year.
On December 18, 2021 Rettke helped lead the Badgers to its first ever NCAA national championship and was named to the NCAA Final Four All-Tournament team. On January 4, 2022, Rettke was named the Honda Sports Award volleyball winner as the nation's top collegiate female volleyball player. In June 2022, Rettke won Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year award for the second time. With the honor, she became the first Big Ten student-athlete ever chosen Big Ten Athlete of the Year in non-consecutive seasons, and became the third two-time recipient of the Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year Award.

International career

Rettke was part of the 2018 USA Volleyball Collegiate National Team. In May 2019, Rettke was selected to the United States women's national volleyball team for the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Women's Nations League in Nanjing, China. Competing in five matches, Rettke helped the U.S. win gold in the Nations League. Then in August, Rettke competed with Team USA in the 2019 FIVB Women's Volleyball Intercontinental Olympic Qualification Tournament, in which Team USA qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Following her career at Wisconsin, she signed on to play professional volleyball with A1 Italian club team, Vero Volley Milano in 2022.

References

External links

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Team USA biographyWisconsin biography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rettke, Dana
1999 births
Living people
American women's volleyball players
Wisconsin Badgers women's volleyball players
Sportspeople from Cook County, Illinois
Big Ten Athlete of the Year winners
People from Riverside, Illinois
21st-century American women
Serie A1 (women's volleyball) players
American expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Middle blockers