BERKELEY – The first thing Jennifer Dorr did when she brought twin daughters Lily and Piper to Haas Pavilion for the first time was promptly set them in a ball cart and take a picture.

It was something Dorr looked forward to almost as much as her babies' first steps or first words.

To say Dorr is a volleyball lifer is not fair to the cliché. At five days old, Dorr was at Main Beach in Laguna Beach propped up under an umbrella while her parents, George and Becky, played. Her parents later helped create Mission Valley Volleyball Club, and Dorr has memories of being 3 years old and lingering in the gym while older girls helped take care of her.

The fact that Dorr went on to become a star setter at Hawai'I and now the head coach at Cal may not surprise those who know her story. But being raised with a volleyball in her hand wasn't a means to an end – it's a process for which she couldn't be more proud.

"I look back with the fondness of memories of growing up in the gym around all those young girls who I looked up to as older sisters and fantastic volleyball players," said Dorr, who will embark on her first season as Cal's head coach on Aug. 24 against Chicago State in the Molten Classic at Haas Pavilion. "Now getting to do that with my girls and watch them run around the gym is something that means a ton to me."

George and Becky Carey made up a pretty formidable beach volleyball pair when Dorr was young, so many of Dorr's days as a toddler were spent at Main Beach. And just like in the gym at Mission Valley, the village of players around the courts helped serve as caretakers for Dorr. When the club opened, the players became Dorr's extended family, serving as pseudo-babysitters, playing pepper and braiding her hair.

"She pretty much stayed in the confines of the gym," Becky Carey said. "If anyone had a ball, she'd want to rally. She was always a little tall for her age so everyone always thought she was older than she was. She hung in there."

Dorr married former Cal All-American swimmer John Dorr in 2013 and the couple had Lily and Piper in 2015. It wasn't long after that the twins were getting their ride in the ball cart at Haas Pavilion and getting doted on by their newest older sisters - Cal's players.

"When she started bringing her kids into the gym, it was such a great thing to see," Cal senior setter Mackenzie Albrecht said. "They would get so excited seeing their mom doing what she loves. We would of course always stop practice when the girls came in – it was ok to stop practice for five minutes so we could ooh and aah over how cute they are."

The Careys eventually started a new club on their own – Saddleback Valley Volleyball Club in Lake Forest, which is celebrating its 25^th year. Dorr finally played on her first team for the club at age 10, with Becky as her head coach.

"I remember standing on the court and yelling at her a lot," Dorr said. "She was a really good coach, and I didn't want to listen to her one bit. From then on, I played for my dad."



Dorr had a hugely successful career at Hawai'I, leading the Rainbow Wahine to a pair of NCAA Final Four appearances and three top-10 finishes nationally. She also played her first collegiate match as a freshman against Cal at the RSF in Berkeley.

A business administration major, Dorr found a job right out of college on the sales and marketing team at KHNL, the NBC affiliate in Honolulu. And although she was helping out at a local club, it became quickly clear she wouldn't survive without more volleyball in her life.

"Right out of college, I wanted to be a businesswoman," Dorr said. "But I realized I'd rather get paid peanuts to be in the volleyball gym than to go my day job. That's when I knew it was in my blood and I couldn't deny it."

Dorr left the islands to take a stab at playing professionally for Brandenburg VCO in Berlin, but returned to Orange County after one year when the club folded. She soon found herself coaching three teams at Saddleback, and set her sights on the college game.

"That allowed me to get back into gyms where college coaches were out recruiting, and I could go talk to all of these college coaches that I'd known for years either as a player or against them and tell them I'm interested in getting into the business," Dorr said.

One of the coaches Dorr ran into at a club tournament was Texas A&M coach Laurie Corbelli, who recruited her out of high school. Corbelli hired Dorr as her director of operations in 2005, launching Dorr's career as a college coach, which also took her to Georgia Tech before landing at Cal.

"I remembered her from that team from Saddleback. She was a hot commodity from a recruiting standpoint," Corbelli said. "After I got a chance to get to know her with recruiting, I always knew that our personalities would mesh beautifully. I remember when she came on her recruiting visit, there was not one person who didn't like her or hit it off with her."

Dorr spent two seasons in College Station before becoming an assistant coach at Georgia Tech. After two years in Atlanta, she was hired as Cal's director of operations. Dorr was named an assistant at Cal in 2011.

"I'll never forget how the staff and players loved her," Corbelli said. "She had a great perspective and was just a joy. I had a feeling she would be a great coach. I'm so proud of the steps she has taken to get where she is."



The Dorr family will be in their familiar seats behind the North baseline at Haas Pavilion when the Bears kick off the season next month, and Lily and Piper will likely be wearing their usual Cal cheerleading outfits with Cal bows in their hair. And their 19 big sisters will be waiting for them.

"You always see them up in the stands," Albrecht said. "They have favorite players, and you can see them get so excited when their favorite person does well. We love to put them in the ball carts or pretend to pepper with them. They get so excited."

And for Dorr, bringing her daughters to the gym serves more purpose than just triggering fond memories of her own upbringing, or creating new ones. It allows her to serve as a role model, hopefully providing Lily and Piper with inspiration for what they may become.

"The young women I coach will pave the way for the future for my daughters," Dorr said. "I get to be a part of shaping the next generation of leaders and professionals. I honestly think I am a better mom because I work, because I coach. To see what the next generation of leaders and professionals is going through and living it with them, I think that gives me a better perspective on what I want to do with my family and how I want to raise my girls, and what characteristics and qualities are most important as they grow."