Sophomore outside hitter Dana Stephenson is the Athlete of the Week after her performance last weekend in Arizona. Against Arizona State on Friday, she hit .714 with five kills, and the next day she added seven more kills and five blocks. For the season, she is second on the team with .96 blocks per set and is hitting .330 with 96 kills. 
Oregon Daily Emerald: If you didn’t play volleyball, is there any other sport that you would play?
Dana Stephenson: I’ve played soccer my whole life. I’ve actually played soccer more than I’ve ever played volleyball. My whole family played soccer, and my mom was always my soccer coach. So soccer’s really my love. Volleyball just came as a surprise to me in high school, but I really enjoy it. I also ran track senior year of high school, so I think I would have high-jumped if I had the chance.
ODE: What position did you play in soccer?
DS: Anywhere, I was kind of the go-to girl. I’m from a really small town and my mom didn’t have an assistant coach, so I helped her out with that. I kind of acted as not only a player and a leader on my team but also an assistant coach.
ODE: Do you know what you’re majoring in?
DS: I’m undeclared right now, but I will soon declare an art major with a focus in photography, as well as a special education minor. I would really like to teach special education one day.
ODE: Is that what you think you want to do after college?
DS: In a perfect world, I would like to be a photographer, but I know that’s kind of a hard business to get into. So I would like to teach special education and maybe do photography on the side.
ODE: What’s your favorite thing to do outside of volleyball?
DS: I’m really into music. I love listening to Texas country or red dirt country. I like to do crafts, and anything really. I’m not much of a TV-watcher; I would rather be doing something.
ODE: What’s your favorite part about going to the University of Oregon?
DS: I really like it here. The people I’ve met are amazing; I just really love meeting new people that I would have never gotten the chance to meet. I absolutely love home and wouldn’t change that for the world, but it’s crazy to me that a place 2,000 miles away can be so incredibly different. That’s incredible to me, and I like getting the chance to learn about different places.
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