For the past two seasons, Texas has had an elite backrow with three “Littles” (2022: Fleck, Akana, Halter and 2023: Halter, Akana, Barnes). This season, Wenaas has been playing backrow, which has been hurting the team in my opinion. Yes, she is digging up balls defensively, but her backrow play is also putting the team out-of-system in transition. She also has been in serve-receive all 6 rotations, and teams are targeting her because her overall play is notoriously known to break down in high-pressure situations.
I believe the staff have been giving Jenna the starting spot based on her performance in the National Title run last season. But that was more of an aberration than the norm.
They finally pulled the trigger and played Lauenstein on the front row because Jenna wasn't producing. Unfortunately, Jenna is now DSing for her in the back row, which really doesn't solve the team's need. . . . ball control!
But to answer your question, there is NO reason to have Jenna in the back row. Her ball control/defense is mid and there's no reason to utilize her back row attack because it's not effective.
Obviously, we are not privy to what goes on in practice, but there are two other DS (defensive specialists) options (Freshmen Emerick and Ramirez) that they are not wanting to utilize. Either Jenna is outplaying them in practice or the coaching staff are being loyal to her in her Sr year.