Belmont University Vice President/Director of Athletics Scott Corley announced the hire of Dané (duh-NAY) Vorster as the school’s fourth women’s tennis head coach on Monday, Aug. 15, 2022. She began her coaching duties on Aug. 18, 2022.
Vorster served as assistant women’s tennis coach at UC Santa Barbara from 2018-21 and has a wealth of high-level playing experience.
In 2021, the Gauchos went undefeated in Big West Conference play, posted a 12-match win streak – the program’s longest in a quarter century – and faced Stanford in the 2021 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship.
UCSB student-athlete Shakhnoza Khatamova also earned entry into the 2021 NCAA Women’s Tennis Singles Championship.
In her two full seasons (outside the COVID-19 global pandemic) at UCSB, the Gauchos went 27-12 with 11 All-Big West selections, two regular season championships and a Big West Tournament title.
Vorster also spent two seasons as a member of the Northwestern University women’s tennis coaching staff. The Wildcats defeated Mississippi State in the 2017 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship and defeated Buffalo and Kansas State to reach the Round of 16 a year later after capturing the Big Ten Conference regular season title.
Vorster was a standout women’s tennis student-athlete, participating as a freshman at Texas A&M before playing No. 1 singles three consecutive seasons at Portland State.
The South Africa native was a two-time ITA Scholar-Athlete honoree, three-time ITA All-Academic Team award recipient, team captain and All-Big Sky Conference First Team selection. She still ranks among Portland State and the Big Sky’s all-time singles and doubles wins leaders.
The former No. 1 ranked junior in Australia qualified for the WTA $25,000 Ipswich main draw in 2009.
Vorster most recently served as a development manager for RISE Sport in Queensland, Australia, where she spent much of her youth. She also spent time as assistant club director at Future Starts Tennis Club Southampton in New York (2015-17).
Dané holds two bachelor’s degrees from Portland State, attaining a Bachelor of Science in both health sciences - pre-physical therapy and exercise and physical activity in 2016. She received her Master of Arts in sports administration from Northwestern in 2021.
