Liberty setter Delaney Dilfer shares her mindset of leadership on and off the court

Growing up in a family of successful athletes, Liberty senior setter Delaney Dilfer had some pretty large shoes to fill. With her mom being a former collegiate swimmer and her dad a former NFL player and Super Bowl champion, Dilfer was no stranger to the world of sports. 

Although she grew up playing an array of different sports, from basketball to soccer, she found herself drawn to volleyball after watching her two older sisters fall in love with the sport. Though she started as a libero, she decided to follow the family trend of the setter position.

“I have two older sisters who both played volleyball, and both were setters,” Dilfer said. “It was just so special to have two older sisters that I could look up to. They were great role models and in the volleyball sense, I am the player I am today because of them.”

Dilfer attributes much of her success to her family and the supportive environment they fostered for her. With her dad, Trent Dilfer, having to travel often for work, her mom rose to the challenge of taking care of things at home. 

“My dad played in the NFL, but I was like 3 or 4 (years old) when he retired from football, so I really grew up with him as an ESPN analyst. I grew up with him having to travel a ton for ESPN, which was hard, but at the same time, I knew that my dad loved it, and so I wanted him to go after that dream,” Dilfer said. “He did a great job of putting family first and made it a big deal to come to all the things that he could. My mom was Superwoman when it came to taking care of us three girls, chasing us around and doing everything.”

While the Dilfer household certainly placed an emphasis on sports, her parents made sure that Christ was always their number one focus and built a solid foundation of faith for their children.

“Thankfully, I got to be raised in a Christian family, which was just such a blessing,” Dilfer said. “My parents instilled that faith in me from a young age, but you can’t rely on your parent’s faith for so long, and so it was definitely just a childlike faith at first.” 

Dilfer’s father decided to send each of his daughters to a Christian camp, JH Ranch, the year before they entered high school. It was at this camp that Dilfer began taking responsibility for her faith and truly began her personal walk with Christ. 

“That campus really opened my eyes to the fact that it’s a personal relationship with Jesus, we talked so much about spending time in the word and prayer every day,” Dilfer said. “That completely changed my walk after I went home because they challenged us to spend 40 days being in the word. Once I did that, I knew I couldn’t live without it. It had completely changed me.”

Dilfer began her college career by playing for Lipscomb in Nashville, Tennessee. However, she could not shake the feeling that the Lord may have been calling her somewhere else.

“I gave it my all for two years and I prayed every semester, ‘Lord, if you know I’m not supposed to be here, take me somewhere else,’ and he made his will clear after my second year playing,” Dilfer said.

After praying fervently over her future, Dilfer was reached out to by a coach at Liberty. She had her eyes set on a Christian school and was intrigued by the offer, so she decided to make the trip to Lynchburg to see if this was the answer to her prayers.

“(Liberty) was just everything that I wanted. I had some other visits lined up afterward, but I didn’t even go on them because I just knew this was where God wanted me,” Dilfer said. “Even though it technically wasn’t a step up in terms of play, being in the same conference, it still felt like a step up because of just how incredible the school is and the people are. I loved just the mindset that coaches had when I came on my visit, it was truly like a dream come true.”

One unique aspect of the Flames volleyball program is that it is player-led. As one of the team captains, Dilfer is very involved in making sure the team is the best it can be, athletically and spiritually. Along with training the team to be better on the court, there is also an emphasis on growing together off the court. Each practice begins and ends with prayer, and the team also gets together for Bible studies. 

“You can’t take advice or criticism from people that you don’t trust and have good relationships with, so that’s what sets us apart and is what our team is all about. We pour into each other, invest in each other, and the bottom line is our foundation is 100% in Christ. You can go to so many Christian schools and their schools are awesome, but their sports teams are not showing that light,” Dilfer said. “Our team is 100% about it, praying for each other daily and caring about each other as people, not just players.”

Dilfer has completed her undergrad at Liberty, earning an interdisciplinary studies degree in business, communication and religion. Her religion classes captivated her, and she is now pursuing a master’s degree in applied ministry. While she is still unsure of what her discipline will be, she plans on being involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes alongside her fiance. In addition to FCA, Dilfer dreams of one day being a volleyball coach so that she can make the same impact on young women that her family and other mentors have had on her. 

“I want to coach; I don’t know exactly what that will look like. I would love to be a high school coach, probably not D1 because I don’t want to be away from family,” Dilfer said. “I just think that it would be an awesome opportunity to pour into young women.”

White is a sports reporter for the Liberty Champion. Follow her on X