ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
The Seward County Community College volleyball program has done well in the past, participating in national tournaments and winning national championships.
Monday, SCCC welcomed back one of its past players, as Jelena Cohadarevic was introduced as the school’s new volleyball coach at a press conference
Cohadarevic, who is married to former SCCC basketball great Darko Cohadarevic, is a Serbian native who holds many marks in Lady Saints volleyball history.
She is the all-time leader in kills with 1,380 and is sixth in digs with 1,004 and is the only player in SCCC history to register more than 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs.
In her time as a player at Seward, Cohadarevic likewise received many accolades including multiple Jayhawk West Conference Most Valuable Player awards, NJCAA Region 6 Most Valuable Player, Jayhawk West First Team All Conference, First Team All NJCAA Region 6, two-time NJCAA Region Player of the Week and a Third Team Preseason All American.
That was just in her time with the Lady Saints, as Cohadarevic moved on to Florida Gulf Coast University, where she received multiple All Atlantic Sun player awards, as well as being named to multiple All Tournament teams and multiple preseason All Conference teams. She is also a multiple member of the Atlantic Sun’s All Academic team.
Following college, Cohadarevic played professional volleyball in Greece, and after retiring, she married Darko and has a son and a daughter.
Cohadarevic said SCCC opened the door when she came to play volleyball in the U.S.
“It was a dream, and we have many internationals who are still having the same dream I was at the time,” she said. “My kids would probably not have the same life because of this school.”
Though she knows she was a good player in her days with the Lady Saints, Cohadarevic knows she has big shoes to fill, and she also knows coaching will be a different than playing. She was nonetheless thankful for being given the opportunity to lead SCCC volleyball.
“I tell my players we’re going to work hard, and that’s what I know how to do,” she said. “The plan is to make the nationals, maybe not in a year, not in two, but that’s the ultimate goal. I didn’t get the chance to go to nationals when I played, so this is what I want to do with them.”
Somehow, Cohadarevic knew she would coach someday, but she did not realize it would be this quickly.
“Thank you for believing in me,” she said. “Thanks to the community after 16 years for still being here and supporting me and giving me this opportunity, and I hope I we are going to achieve what we deserve, where we should be and we’re going to be where we were before.”
Cohadarevic said when she steps on the court as a coach, she sees the game differently than she did as a player.
“It’s a different me,” she said. “I get something else. I have this competition I do not want to lose. I am trying to bring that energy, and we are going to work hard. We have lots of internationals. We should click together. It’s always ‘we before me.’ I do not care how you like each other when you’re off the court, but when we step on the court, we are one. We are one team, one person, and we are going to come together, and we are going to play together.”
Cohadarevic said she and Darko are very attached to the Liberal community, and this is a large part of what brought her back to SCCC.
“We work well,” she said. “It’s a small town. I like that. We have kids, and you have more control than in bigger cities. The community’s very involved, very helpful. The community is a huge part of this college and this city as well.”
Cohadarevic said she has high goals for both herself and Lady Saints volleyball.
“When I don’t achieve, I feel I failed,” she said. “I do have huge expectations for myself, and I hope I can manage to make that. It’s going to be a process. It’s hopefully going to be a good process, but as long as we all work together and we get support from the community, we’re going to do okay.”
Between her time as a player at SCCC, FGCU and Greece, Cohadarevic said she has developed a good recruiting base to continue bringing international players to the Lady Saints program.
“I have good contacts, and we are hoping to bring some good players for the next season,” she said.
