VOLLEYBALL
HISTORY
of
Zeljko KOLJESAR
- Five years of club volleyball in Yugoslavia (I was a setter all the time)
- Finished 6th in the country in summer of 1994
- Finished 2nd in the country in summer of 1995
- Then I moved to Canada
HIGH SCHOOL: junior (grade 10) Fall of 1995
- My coaches moved me to right side
- We played in KCI tournament in October and won gold
- We made it to the WCSSAA finals in November to win them (city league)
- Then we lost in the CWOSSA finals during the same week (regional tournament)
- League 11-2
- I was the junior MVP at my high school
CLUB: midget for Tri-City Tazmanian Devils (Winter and Spring of 1996)
- We finished 2nd at midget open in March
- Then unfortunately we ended 4th at Provincials in April
TEAM ONTARIO: "B" team (Summer of 1996)- We practiced for two weeks in Ottawa
- Ended at 4th place at a tournament in Kingston
HIGH SCHOOL: senior (grade 11) Fall of 1996
- Unionville tournament; September 13th; silver medal and Adidas T-shirt
- Twin Cities tournament; September 28th; gold medal and a hat
- York tournament; October 4th-5th; silver medal (lost to Oakridge)
- Saunders tournament; November 2nd; silver medal (lost to Oakrigde)
- Made it to the WCSSAA finals to win on November 12th
- We also won CWOSSA on November 15th
- I was chosen to be one of the WCSSAA All-Stars
- League 12-1
- Total 45-4-4
- We went to OFSAA as defending champions from March 21-23 in Toronto
- With great performance we made it all the way to the finals where we managed to beat the superior and unbeaten team of Oakridge from London and become number one in Ontario
CLUB: juvenile for Tri-City Oaks (Winter and Spring of 1997)
- Oakville; December 14th; bronze medal at McGregor Cup
- Scarborough; January 18th; silver medal at Ken Davies Open
- I was one of the two MVP-s of the tournament and I got a wooden volleyball plaque
- Guelph; in March; we finally won gold at Bugarski Cup
- I also played in Region 3 tournaments with the other team (my age - first year juvenile)
- We won gold there too during March
- Then we had Provincials in London; April 19-20; gold medalists
- We represented Ontario at Nationals in St. John
- I won the MVP in one of the round-robin games
- We successfully made it to the bronze medal match to win it and become third in Canada
US JUNIOR NATIONALS: 16's division (Summer of 1997)
- I played for the team from Rochester, Pace Bootlegger Reabok East
- The Nationals were in Denver, Colorado from July 2nd to July 9th
- We ended up in 7th place out of 64 teams
- I was chosen to be in the All-American team
REGIONAL TEAM: Region 3 (Summer of 1997)
- We practiced in London for one week prior to the games
- The games were in Sudbury, 26-27 July
- We won gold by beating Region 5 in the finals
TEAM ONTARIO: midget team (Summer of 1997)
- We practiced for one week in Ottawa, 2-10 August
- We scrimmaged between ourselves
HIGH SCHOOL: senior (grade 12) Fall of 1997
- Unionville tournament; September 12th; I was the MVP to receive a pair of shoes
- Twin Cities tournament; September 27th; we ended second; I was the MVP to get a Nike hat
- York tournament; October 3-4; I was one of the six All-Stars
- University of Waterloo tournament; October 17-18; we won silver medals; I received a T-shirt for being an All-Star
- We made it to WCSSAA finals to win on November 20th
- We won CWOSSA on November 26th
- League record 13-0, first time in three years undefeated
- I was chosen to be the WCSSAA MVP
- We went to OFSAA ranked sixth; finished second in our pool and lost in quarter-finals
CLUB: juvenile and junior for Tri-City Oaks (Winter and Spring of 1998)
- Humber College junior tournament, December 21st; we won silver
- Scarborough junior tournament; January 17th; we finished third
- Scarborough juvenile tournament; January 24th; we only ended at fourth place
- Oshawa juvenile Ken Davies tournament; after playing great volleyball we managed
to win the tournament, I was also the MVP so I won a wooden award in shape of a vball
- We played in two Divison I Men's tournaments and managed to make it to the quarters where we lost both times
- Scarborough junior tournament; February 21st; we ended at sixth place
- Oakville juvenile tournament; February 28th; my team finished at fourth place
- Scarborough Junior Provincials; March 28th-29th; we got the bronze medal
- Co-ed tournament on April 4th with high school friends (mixed); after a long day we won
the gold; I was the All-Star of the tournament to receive a shirt
- Scarborough Juvenile Provincials; April 18th-19th; we finished third and I received the award of excellence in my team
- We made it to Nationals in Kingston where we only finished at the eight place
- I was invited to try out for the Junior National Team but since I didn't have the Canadian citizenship I couldn't go
US JUNIOR NATIONALS: 17's division (Summer of 1998)
- I was asked again to play for the team from Rochester, Pace Bootlegger Reabok East
- The Nationals were in Dallas, Texas from July 2nd to July 7th
- We ended up in 5th place out of 30 teams after losing a close quarter finals
- I was chosen to be in the All-American team for the second time
TEAM ONTARIO: The "A" team (Summer of 1998)
- We practiced in Kingston for three weeks
- I was moved from playing right side to being a setter
- I had only that time to prepare for National Team Challenge Cup as a starting setter
- In an exhibition match against Queens University we won in five sets
- On Monday, July 27th, we played two matches against Quebec's Provincial Team and we ended up wining them both
- The NTCC-s were in Winnipeg from August 7th to 9th (six provinces participated)
- First we managed to beat every province in the pool play
- In semis we had a good match against British Columbia to finish it with a 3:1 victory
- We met with Alberta in the finals and we won 3:1 again
- I was the MVP of the tournament and I received a sweat shirt
- I was also selected to be a member of the Youth National Team for a week, but since the flight couldn't be rescheduled we returned home the next day
HIGH SCHOOL: last year senior (Fall of 1998)
- York tournament; October 3rd; With the team of all new guys we managed to get to the finals where we lost in a tough match to Oakrigde; I was chosen the MVP of the tournament to get a plaque
- University of Waterloo tournament; October 17th; After a long day of hard work Forest Heights finally wins a tournament beating Cayuga in the finals; I was the MVP of the tournament again and I received a sweat shirt
- We managed to get all the way to the finals of WCSSAA where we won on November 17th
- Then we also beat every team at CWOSSA on November 19th
- OFSAA was held in Etobicoke from November 26th to 28th; We were first in our pool; The quarter-final match was close but we ended up winning; Semi-finals was the best performance this team had all year; Unfortunately we lost to Oakridge in the finals to finish 2nd
CLUB: junior for Tri-City Oaks (Winter and Spring of 1999)
- Cambridge tournament; December 5th; We lost a close semi-finals to end up fourth
- Scarborough tournament; January 16th; Everybody played so well and we finally won a junior tournament
- Cambridge tournament; February 6th; Once again every single player was extremely focused the whole tournament and we won for the second time in a row
- Ottawa tournament; March 27th; We had three guys joining the team and once again we beat every team that was in our way to win the tournament for the third time in a row
- Provincials in Scarborough; April 10th-11th; The first day of the tournament we didn't play very well, but we rebounded the next day to become the Champions after two and a half hours of a battle in the finals; I also received an award of excellence
- Nationals in Vancouver; April 30th-May2nd; Since we were in the toughest pool, we had a four way tie and we lost few close sets, we ended up last in the pool and finished 11th.
US JUNIOR NATIONALS: 18's division (Summer of 1999)
- I played for the team from Rochester for the last time, Pace Bootlegger Reabok East
- The Nationals were held in New Orleans, from July 6th to July 10th
- The team gained an incredible confidence and we went all the way to the finals; where unfortunately we lost in three sets and finished second out of 52 teams
- I was chosen to be in the All-American team for the third time in a row
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: Freshman (Spring of 2000)
- My first tournament as a Nittany Lion was in Edmonton, Alberta, at the end of October; we unfortunately lost every match that we played but I did get an award for the play of the match on one day
- We had our own tournament in the beginning of November and we successfully beat every team that we played against
- The trip to Hawaii in January was my first experience of playing volleyball at the highest level I have ever played. I played better in the third match against IPFW that we ended up winning.
- During the spring break we played three matches in California. We didn’t play that well and we lost all of them. I had my first “bad match” in the third match and I was taken out of the game.
- We finished our EIVA season undefeated. I was chosen as a Newcomer of the year and I also managed to be in the All-EIVA Team. Due to my injured back, I only played in EIVA semis and finals, but I was lucky enough to be chosen as the MVP of the tournament.
- The Final Four tournament was in Indiana. We faced UCLA in the semis and we lost in three. But we played really well, especially in the first and third set.
- To top off the season, Carlos and myself were named to the Freshmen All-Star team for this season.
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: Sophomore (Spring of 2001)
- The first tournament of the season was the Overkill Classic in Waterloo in the beginning of November; we played really well as a team and we managed to beat everyone there; but we didn’t stay to play in the finals though
- The following weekend was the tournament in Rochester, where we won one match and lost one to Stanford
- During the second week of school in the second semester we went to Hawaii again to play in the Outrigger Invitational; We lost all three matches, but we were really close to beating UCLA; I was chosen for the All-Tournament Team and I received an award
- For spring break we visited California again and played three matches there. The last one we won and it was against Long Beach.
- We lost one match this year in EIVA, but we breezed through to win the East Coast Championships. I made the All-EIVA team again and also the All-EIVA Academic Team. I was also a member of the All-Tournament team and Ricky ended up getting the MVP award.
- We flew to Long Beach for the Final Four and faced BYU in the semis. The closest match in my whole career and could have gone both ways, but, unfortunately, it didn’t turn out good for us, as BYU successfully became the champs. To top off the season, I was also an honorable mention All-American.
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: Junior (Spring of 2002)
- The first weekend we played was in early November against Hawaii. The first day we went to five games and lost a close one at 22:24. But, the next day we came back to win it in three straight. The team showed heart and pride! The first step…
- In November we went to Quebec City to play against University of Laval. It was the first time on the road this season and it showed. We lost ugly on Friday night, but bounced back to win on Saturday in an exciting five game match.
- The annual tournament in Hawaii was held in January. We came in with a lot of expectations and ranked #1, but lost to Hawaii and UCLA. We ended up beating Lewis in three and I received an All-Star award for the second time.
- The Volleyball Magazine’s issue that came out just after spring break had an article about 9 terminators in the college volleyball. Surprisingly I was one of the 9 terminators and there was a short article along with the picture.
- At the end of the season the All-Star teams are picked. Once again I was the member of the All-EIVA team. Besides this the surprising news was that I made 2nd Team All-America. The hard work paid off!
- The Final Four was at Penn State University and we were getting for it the whole year. Unfortunately, the pressure got to us and we were nervous and tentative. This showed through our game and we lost to Hawaii in the semis, the eventual champs.
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: Senior (Spring of 2003)- First time back on the court was in November against Pepperdine. The weekend was a total success. Everyone played with confidence and we won both nights. This was a good experience to get us ready for the long season.
- We also competed in a tournament held in Rochester the weekend before Thanksgiving. We won two out of the three matches we played and it was a good opportunity for us to get ready for the long season. The good thing was that my parents also had a chance to see me play!
- The last trip to Hawaii was during the first week of school. The trip itself was an awesome experience as always. However, the volleyball part of it was disappointing. We lost all three matches and we looked tentative again. Hopefully we can learn from this and get ready for the ending when it actually matters!
- For the spring break we had an opportunity to really test ourselves and play four matches out west coast. The first two of them were against BYU. Playing against that crowd was very tough but we managed to split the matches. Then we played against USC, which we beat, and also Long Beach who swept us for the first time this season. It was tough to lose but it showed us where we have to be if we want to win the championship at the end of the year!
- On April 11th I had my senior night! My parents were able to come and see me play at Rec Hall for the first time ever. Them being there gave me an extra spark and we played well as a team to beat IPFW.
- The All-EIVA team was picked again and I made the first team for the fourth time! I was also chosen for the All-EIVA Academic Team. The awesome thing is that Carlos was the EIVA MVP this year!
- The EIVA tournament was the same story as every year. We didn’t play that great because the pressure to win was there, but we won and got to go to Final Four again. Final Four was held in Long Beach. At Final Four we could finally serve pretty well, but we could not pass at all. This cost us the match and we lost in semis to BYU, who then lost in the finals to Lewis!
- After the season was finished I found out that I got chosen for the Verizon Academic All-District Team and also for the second team Verizon Academic All-American!
VITÓRIA DE GUIMARÃES:
1st year of professional volleyball
- I signed a 7 month contract to play for Vitoria as an outside hitter.
- We made it to the finals of the Portuguese Cup that was held in Lisbon. Due to some bad luck and a couple of ankle injuries we were beaten by Castelo da Maia.
- In the Portuguese league we lost in the semis to the last year champs, again Castelo da Maia, but we still ended up winning bronze!
And this is where my volleyball career officially ends.
