Jake Wilkerson with Head Men’s Volleyball Coach Mary Kay Van Oort. Wilkerson will play volleyball with the Mustangs next year. Photo Provided

Jake Wilkerson signed to play volleyball with the Mount Mercy Mustangs next year. Wilkerson is the son of Lon and Kathy Wilkerson of Toledo.

While in High School Jake has been involved in cross country, boys basketball, soccer and baseball.

According to the Mount Mercy website, the Mustangs are coached by Mary Kay Van Oort. Van Oort was named to the position of head coach for the school’s first-ever head men’s volleyball coach in August 2015. She was previously an assistant coach for the Mustang women’s volleyball program for two seasons (1992-93) during the tenure of her husband, Mount Mercy Hall of Fame coach Doug Van Oort. Mount Mercy claimed Midwest Classic Conference championships both years.

Most recently, Van Oort was the head volleyball coach at Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School for two seasons (2013-14), earning Metro Volleyball Coach of the Year honors in 2013. Prior to that, she was an assistant women’s volleyball coach at Kirkwood Community College (1996-97) and an assistant at Southern Illinois University (1990-92).

Van Oort is a 1989 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, where she was a two-time women’s volleyball MVP and earned a BBA in marketing. She earned her master’s degree in kinesiology from Southern Illinois in 2012.