2025 | Langford Graduate Has Number Retired at DWU

Retired number for DWU volleyball’s Ady Dwight brings back fond memories of playing career

Dwight, a four-time NAIA All-American and 2023 GPAC attacker of the year, was honored Wednesday as the first Tiger volleyball standout to have her jersey retired.

Ady Dwight (center) is pictured holding her retired Dakota Wesleyan volleyball jersey No. 2 alongside father Jason and mother Tara on Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2025 at the Christen Athletic Center.

Blake Durham/Mitchell Republic

Following her final game for Dakota Wesleyan University volleyball in 2023, head coach Lindsay Wilber told Ady Dwight nobody will wear her jersey number again.

Almost two years later, Dwight’s legacy with Tigers volleyball was cemented on Wednesday.

Dwight became the first volleyball player in program history to have her jersey retired, with a banner displaying her No. 2 jersey number being unveiled at the east end of the Christen Athletic Center prior to the No. 24-ranked Tigers’ match against Great Plains Athletic Conference opponent Dordt.

With Dwight’s family and several of her past teammates present for the evening, it brought out a host of emotions remembering what she called the “glory days.”

“It just brings back a bunch of memories,” Dwight said. “It’s just kind of like a reunion for all of us and to see the (current) girls continuing to grow the game is pretty special. I love coming back and watching them play.”

Over her four-year career, Dwight was the first DWU volleyball player to earn four NAIA All-American honors and was a GPAC first-team honoree four times. She was also the first player in team history to earn GPAC most valuable player honors, being named the conference’s freshman of the year in 2020 and attacker of the year in 2023, and finished ranked second all-time in program history with 1,841 kills.

Originally hailing from Langford and earning three Class B all-state selections in volleyball for Langford Area, Dwight came to DWU due to her preference towards smaller class sizes, despite having full scholarship offers from NCAA Division II programs.

Joining DWU volleyball in 2020 on a team coming off of nearly making the GPAC playoffs the past two seasons, seeing the competitive spirit out of Dwight during training for the upcoming season convinced everyone she was going to change the outlook of the program.

“From the first practice, I knew she’d be freshman of the year,” Wilber said. “Ady was the hardest worker in the gym and the weight room, but she did it the right way. She was the breakthrough player that we needed.”

Marcus Traxler/Mitchell Republic

Averaging 12 kills per match as a freshman, Dwight helped usher in an era of success for Tigers volleyball, qualifying for the NAIA national tournament in 2021 and 2022 and making the national quarterfinals in 2022, which is DWU’s highest NAIA tournament finish in team history.

Not quantified in her list of accomplishments was her impact as a team leader, inviting teammates to training sessions in the summertime while getting together in dorm rooms just to have fun in each other’s company. The bonds formed over time at DWU are the ones Dwight said she doesn’t take for granted.

“We used to live in a dorm all together and we used to hang out with each other,” Dwight said. “I miss making those memories with them and spending that time with them, being reminded of what DWU volleyball is like and the legacy that me and my teammates created.”

“She made everyone around her better,” Wilber added. “She would rally the girls and knew how to rally them from the bottom. She wanted to get better and wanted our team to get better.”

Dwight, 24, now calls Mitchell home, working in the intensive care unit at Avera Queen of Peace Hospital after graduating with a degree in nursing, where her motto in life is the same message for young volleyball players who come to DWU’s summer camps and see her name high above the rafters.

“If you set goals for yourself, you can always achieve them,” Dwight said. “There’s so many things you can do in your career. Work your way up, work hard and the sky’s the limit.”

–Courtesy of the Mitchell Republic (https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/sports/college/retired-number-for-dwu-volleyballs-ady-dwight-brings-back-fond-memories-of-playing-career)