Dani Drews

Personal: Drews comes from an athletic family. Her father, Paul Barton, played baseball at Utah from 1989-91 and was also a member of the Utah football team. Her mother, Mikki Barton, played basketball and volleyball at Utah. Her brother, Jackson, was a two-year starter on the Utah football team and earned All-Pac-12 honors as a senior. Jackson was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts in the seventh round of the 2019 NFL Draft and played two games for the Las Vegas Raiders in 2021. Another brother, Cody, was a four-year starter at linebacker for the Utah football team and claimed Honorable Mention All-Pac-12 notice during his senior season. Cody was taken in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft by Seattle and has played in 48 games over the last three seasons for the Seahawks. Their uncle, Mark Barton, lettered on the Utah football team from 1990-93. She notes her parents as her biggest mentors. She has three dogs, four cats, and 13 chickens. Her hobbies include horseback riding, reading books, and enjoying the outdoors.

2022 Season: Drews was a member of the inaugural Athletes Unlimited Dream Team and served as a captain four times. She played in all 45 sets during the first AU season and finished third in the league with 3,308 leaderboard points. Additionally, Drews was second in the league with 222 kills and 14 service aces. She holds the distinction as the only athlete in the league with 10 or more kills in all 15 matches, including a season-high 20 kills against Team De La Cruz on Apr. 1. Drews finished her rookie campaign with 200 or more leaderboard points in seven matches, including a season-high 410 points against Team Lowe in the Week One finale. She became the first player in AU Volleyball history with multiple matches of 400+ points following a 408-point showing against Team De La Cruz. Drews led the league with 661 attack attempts, including four matches with 50+ attempts. She tied for ninth in the league with 17 blocks, including a season-high three rejections on Mar. 18 against Team Cruz. Drews also ranked second in the circuit with eight match MVP awards. She earned MVP 1 honors four times, which ranked third among all players. Drews earned her first double-double of her Athletes Unlimited career with 14 kills and 11 digs on Mar. 18 against Team Cruz, securing 315 points to earn her first career MVP 1 award. She recorded 13 kills with a season-high 16 digs in a double-double performance on Mar. 30 against Team Lowe, garnering 350 leaderboard points and MVP 3 distinction. Drews hit .462 with 20 kills and just two attack errors on 39 attempts against Team De La Cruz on Apr. 1, receiving MVP 1 honors for her outstanding performance. She closed Week Three against Team Sheilla by authoring her third double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs. In Week Four, Drews started with 282 leaderboard points against Team Valentin-Anderson. She posted 18 kills with seven digs and two blocks in an MVP 1 performance. Drews secured her fourth double-double of the season with 13 kills and 10 digs against Team Sheilla on Apr. 8 in a 75-56 loss. She opened Week Five with her fifth double-double after hitting .239 with 15 kills and 12 digs against Team Valentin-Anderson while earning MVP 3 honors. Drews was one of three first-time captains in Week Two and finished first on the leaderboard in the opening week of the season with 828 points. Finally, she was one of nine players selected during the inaugural Athletes Unlimited College Draft.

Other Professional Experience: Drews started her professional career by competing for Grupa Azoty Chemik Police in Poland during the 2021-22 season. She spent the 2022-23 season with Cuneo Granda San Bernardo in Italy. She was a member of the 2023-24 NEC Red Rockets (Japan) squad. She signed to play for the Salt Lake team during the inaugural 2025 League One Volleyball campaign.

International Experience: Drews was named to the USA Volleyball roster for the 2022 Volleyball Nations League.

At Utah: Drews is a five-year letter winner at Utah and holds program career records for kills (2,268), sets played (561), matches played (150), and attack attempts (5,655). She is a four-time AVCA All-America selection, including three First-Team commendations. Drews also earned All-Region and All-Pac-12 distinction four times and was honored as AVCA Pacific Region Player of the Year in each of her final three seasons. In 2020, she was named Pac-12 Player of the Year. She is one of six players in Pac-12 Conference history, and the only player at Utah, to register 2,000 career kills and 1,000 career digs. Drews ranks second on the Pac-12 career kills list, stands sixth at Utah in career aces (126), and ninth in career digs (1,104). She earned 50 double-doubles in her five-year career and was the recipient of Utah’s Most Outstanding Senior Athlete and Athlete of the Year awards in 2021-22. As a senior, she ranked fourth in the nation by averaging 5.19 kills per set. Drews became the third player in program history to earn the AVCA National Player of the Week award on Sept. 14, 2021, and posted a pair of 30-kill performances during the 2020 campaign. She set the Utah single-season record as a junior with 643 kills, which ranked second in NCAA Division I. In 2019, she set the program single-match mark with 33 kills against USC and finished second in the Pac-12 Conference with 18 double-doubles as a sophomore.