Nov. 18, 2014
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Megan Herboth
UCFKnights.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) -- Senior middle blocker DeLaina Sarden has come a long way from the 16-year-old just starting to play volleyball.
She became the 10th player in UCF volleyball history to reach the 1,000-kill milestone with her final kill in the Knights' sweep of Temple in early October.
"As a freshman, I just wanted to get on the court and make an impact," Sarden said. "Hitting 1,000 kills was one of the goals I wanted to accomplish before I graduated."
UCF head coach Todd Dagenais noted that the Knights knew early on that Sarden was going to have a big role in the growth of the program.
"We knew from the moment we began recruiting DeLaina that she was going to be a special player," Dagenais said. "But it's hard to put into words what she has meant to the program."
After earning a starting position halfway through her freshman campaign, Sarden began raising the bar each year. She was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year, which boosted her confidence, but also fueled her to keep striving for improvement.
As a sophomore, she piled on the accolades, being named All-Conference USA First Team, AVCA All-Region First Team and AVCA Honorable Mention All-America.
The summer before her junior season, she was invited to try out for the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Senior A2 Program. Sarden made the team in Dallas and cites this as the accomplishment that means the most to her for a very special reason.
"My mom scraped up all of the change she had to come out to Dallas and watch me play," she said. "I played and the team won, but it was even better just to see the look on her face. With all of the times she sacrificed and struggled so that I was able to play volleyball made it mean so much more."
Sarden returned to campus for her junior year, becoming a unanimous selection to the inaugural American Athletic Conference Preseason Team. She earned the American Volleyball Player of the Week three times during the season and was unanimously voted All-American Athletic Conference First Team. She became the first Knight to earn consecutive AVCA All-America honors.
With the additions to the team this season, her role on the court and her leadership role has changed. She has not felt the need to be as vocal of a leader and instead tends to lead by example.
"The biggest thing that I've seen her change this year is that when teams front her, or overload on her, she's willing to be the decoy," Dagenais said. "She's become a really unselfish player this year."
She hopes to transition her helpful nature into a career. Coming to UCF with the goal of pursuing a career as a sports broadcaster, Sarden quickly realized that was not the path for her. From there, she decided to switch gears and pursue a career as a business performance consultant. But something still felt like it was missing, so Sarden went back to the drawing board.
"I thought about how much I really love college athletics," she said. "I thought a great way to stay in college athletics would be on the academic side. I want to help students push themselves and really find out what it is they want to do (after graduation). So often you see students coming through athletic programs and they're just majoring in some generic degree, then they don't know how to market themselves after they leave."
As an academic advisor, Sarden will be able to draw on her experiences. She knows the time commitment that it takes to be a student-athlete, between time on the court and in the classroom and other external factors that would be beneficial for academic advisors.
"I like being involved with student-athletes," Sarden concluded. "I just want to keep that cycle going."