Growing up in Lazarevac, Serbia, it was volleyball or nothing for sophomore outside hitter Sara Dasic until she was forced to make a choice.
As her days of club volleyball in high school came to an end, to stay in Serbia, Dasic had to choose between getting an education and continuing her volleyball career.
Two years later, Dasic is doing both at Marist College, thriving on the court as one of the Red Foxes’ most dominant new pin hitters, expected to take part in leading the next era of Marist volleyball.
“I love volleyball, obviously. I decided I wanted to play volleyball instead of just academics,” said Dasic. “I heard that here they care about student-athletes and everything is balanced.”
However, the path to Division I volleyball is more complex for international players compared to those domestically recruited from the United States. For one, it is a lot easier for coaches to travel the states, watching potential future players perform in person as opposed to strictly video. But, the main issue lies in the fact that international players are not on an ideal timeline for recruiting.
Many international players weigh the pros and cons of attempting to go professional instead of continuing their education throughout their high school years. By the time they have to decide, the option of migrating to the United States to do both becomes increasingly difficult.
In the states, athletes aspiring to play in college one day are typically recruited throughout their middle two years of high school, and have a good idea of where they will commit before they start their senior seasons.
“[International players] timelines are a little different,” said Marist volleyball head coach Sean Byron. “We’re done with the 2025 class and pretty close to being done with the 2026 class. So we’re really trying to identify sophomores in high school.”
Players coming from overseas sometimes do not express interest in playing collegiately in the United States until as late as February, making it hard for them to find open spots on Division I rosters. Especially in smaller conferences like the MAAC, schools only have so many scholarships and NIL money available to use.
Though coach Byron and assistant coach Paul Vink-Lainas have discussed the possibility of leaving a scholarship spot open for any late decision-makers, but concluded the risk outweighs the reward.
“It’s like rolling the dice,” said Byron. “That’s a pretty big gamble.”
Many players, especially in women’s volleyball, then take a different route to the higher levels of NCAA Volleyball.
“I think the women’s game is a little bit behind the men’s game,” said Byron. “There’s a ton of pro-level guys that want to come over.”
The difference can be credited to the sheer number of leagues around the world, leading to differing opportunities. There are more women’s leagues, especially in Europe, resulting in more chances for women to play professionally.
For those who decide too late to come to the United States to play, junior colleges, also known as JUCOs, present themselves as a stepping stone to bigger programs. JUCOs are two-year post-high school developmental programs that offer athletes a place to play for a year or two before making the next step in their academic and athletic careers.
Dasic followed that path, choosing to attend Indian River State College in Fort Pierce, Fla.
She began playing volleyball at eight years old and fell in love with the sport. But as she got older, Dasic knew that to continue playing throughout college, she could not do it in Serbia.
“If you want to go to a university in Serbia, you can’t play volleyball because it’s so hard,” said Dasic. “You really have to study a lot, you can’t do both.”
Adjusting to the United States by herself brought an array of challenges on and off the court for the then-freshman to face. For one, the rules in Serbian volleyball differ from those imposed at the NCAA level. Liberos, like in most professional leagues, do not serve which further emphasizes the importance of all hitters being able to serve effectively, especially middles. There are also far fewer substitutions-per-set allowed for each team, making players who play all six rotations – like Dasic – all the more valuable.
Outside of differences in rules, the gameplay also varies due to the style of volleyball used, which mainly affects serving.
“The ball is heavier in Serbia than here. I didn’t even know the ball was different and then I was like ‘what is this’,” said Dasic.
Off the court, Dasic adjusted to the American lifestyle, including the English language. Though difficult, Dasic was not alone in her quest to master the language. Indian River State’s roster last year featured eight additional international players, coming from Germany, Poland, Bulgaria and France.
“When I came here, I was so scared to speak English. I was so scared,” said Dasic. ”I was like, ‘am I gonna make a mistake or something?’ [My teammates] helped me a lot.”
Valeria Ivanova, a setter on last year’s Pioneers team, played a pivotal role in helping Dasic decide to come to Indian River State, as well as being a teammate she could relate to. Ivanova, hailing from Sofia, Bulgaria, spoke Bulgarian, a language similar to Serbian. Both languages stem from the South Slavic branch of the Slavic language family.
Though Dasic appeared in 15 of the Pioneer’s 23 matches in 2023, the outside hitter made her mark. Dasic scored 107 kills, the third most on the team despite her limited play, and added nine aces, 52 digs and 131 receptions.
After her freshman season, Indian River State moved from a D1 JUCO program to D2, and Dasic decided it was time for a change of scenery. Dasic anticipated only spending one year as a Pioneer, and the change in level further helped push her into the transfer portal.
“Our school dropped to DII and I knew I wanted to transfer,” said Dasic. “It was a stressful process.”
Dasic was not alone; a few other teammates had entered the portal, and her coaches began reaching out to programs around the country. With Indian River State moving down to DII, they were no longer able to offer players their scholarships.
“She felt bad that she recruited Sara for a year and she was going to lose her scholarship, so she had called a bunch of people,” said Byron, recalling his conversations with the Pioneers’ coaching staff.
At first, the recruiting took place virtually through emails and phone calls Byron and his coaching staff did not even see her play in person, just on film. Dasic made a good impression, earning an official visit to Poughkeepsie. Although Marist was not the only school in on Dasic’s recruitment, it was ultimately the only school she visited.
“I met the team and then I met our assistant coach, Paul, and I really liked them all,” said Dasic. “That was the most important thing, why I decided to come here: coaching and the girls that I met.”
In her first year as a Red Fox, Dasic has played a key role for Marist as a six-rotation player. Most importantly, Dasic has seemingly improved each weekend of the season. Dasic recorded 14 kills in Marist’s opening game of MAAC Conference play and has recorded double-digit kills in every match but one since, tallying a new career-high of 24 on Oct. 20 against Merrimack. Her 265 kills are second on the team to only freshman outside hitter Taylor Miller, who edges her out by one at 266.
“She has been a lot more consistent hitting the ball hard and to a certain spot,” said senior middle hitter Alyssa White following Marist’s first win of the season, a 3-1 defeat over Manhattan. “I think earlier in the season, especially with the bigger teams she faced that are taller and a lot more physical, she would get thrown off when there was a block in front of her.”
Byron credits much of Dasic’s style of play to her maturity beyond her years, something that comes with her life experiences that have come through volleyball. Dasic made the tough decision to leave her family in Serbia to come to the United States by herself to play volleyball, then navigated the transfer portal to make her way to Poughkeepsie.
“She’s able to solve a lot of problems on her own, and I think that when she plays volleyball, that’s how she plays,” said Byron “If the block is down the line, her solution is to go cross-court. If the block is cross-court, her solution is to go down the line. She’s used to solving problems and I think that that’s volleyball.”
Dasic has also made an impact on the defensive side of the ball, recording 170 digs so far in the season. Dasic, who only trails Marist’s primary libero, sophomore Katherine Thompson in digs, leads the team in receives by a wide margin.
Along with Thompson, Dasic has been one of the Red Foxes’ best passers in serve-receive. Dasic has tallied 623 attempts, hundreds more than those who trail her. Dasic has registered a 26.2 first-ball side-out percentage and a 41.1 good pass percentage, the second highest in both categories on the team. She is once again only behind Thompson but outpaces her with 230 more attempts.
The sophomore outside hitter has made vast improvements this season; showing much promise for her future and that of the Red Foxes. Marist has struggled to a 3-21 record this season, but their young roster has shown vast improvement lately, winning two of their last three games and hanging competitive with some of the better teams in the conference.
Though the Red Foxes are currently on the outside looking in at the eight-team playoff picture, Dasic is the face of the youth movement, ushering in a new era of Marist volleyball.
“She’s a good volleyball player; she sees the court, moves the ball around, but she just needs to be more physical, she needs to jump higher, she needs to hit harder, she needs to move faster,” said Byron. “The spring will be really important.”
Edited by Hayden Shapiro and Luke Sassa
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo; Photo from Marist Athletics
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