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Former
Franklin Monroe standout, Elainia Kakatolis (right standing), is
pictured during a time-out
in a game at Northern La. University.
Kakatolis was a three sport atllete as a Lady Jet, excelling
in
basketball and track as well as volleyball. Submitted Photos From
Elainia Kakatolis.
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Kakatolis serving at
Northwestern State University
By George Starks
NATCHITOCHES, LA. - While at Franklin Monroe, Elaina Kakatolis excelled
the three sports...volleyball, basketball and was a state qualifier as
part of the Jets relay track team.
In volleyball, she led her team to three sectional runner-up finishes
and a pair of conference championships and was the conference player of
the year as a senior. She tallied a school-record 298 kills as a senior
to go along with a .443 attack percentage while recording 100 blocks
and 125 digs.
She was named all-area first team her final two seasons as well as
first team all-district.
As a high school player at Franklin Monroe, Kakatolis helped guide her
team to a 16-7 record her senior year and a 63-26 mark over her career.
After leaving FM. she took her show on the road, landing in Muncie,
Indiana as a Ball State Lady Cardinal. For three of her four years
there, Kakatolis played for co-head volleyball coaches Hugh and
Stephanie Hernesman.
While at Ball State, Kakatolis ended her career ranked 14th in the
program history with 2,203 attempts (kills); finished as one of the top
blockers in program history, ranking 16th in block assists (227) and
18th in career total blocks (249); and her 127 sets played in 2008 tie
as the 17th-best single-season total in the program. During this time
she also earned her degree in accounting.
“Adding Elaina to our staff is going to be huge for our program,”
commented Hugh Hernesman, now coaching at NSU. “For all three years
that we were together at Ball State, Elaina was a leader and captain
for the team. Her teammates gravitated to her and she has a nice, easy
calm about her. As a three-year starter, Elaina’s experience of playing
within our unique system of play is going make her a great resource for
our players. The bottom line is that we are adding another coach that
knows what we do as well as we do, that will step right in without any
sort of learning curve. On top of that, Elaina is a very organized and
responsible individual, which will be invaluable to the day-to-day
operations of the program.”
Currently, Kakatolis is doing her graduate work in Sports
Administration.
“I’m very excited about the opportunity to continue my education and to
be a graduate assistant for the NSU volleyball program and the
Hernesmans,” said Kakatolis in a phone interview Monday. “I have played
for them the past three seasons and am very happy to spend the next
couple of years working with them and NSU. When I graduated from BSU,
Hugh and Stephanie took the head coaching job here and they needed a
graduate assistant. I know them well and they are great people. As a
coach, this is all new to me. There’s so much difference from being a
player to being a coach. I see things completely different.”
As a graduate, assistant, Kakatolis has a job that sees her on the road
quite often.
“My responsibility as a coach is to go out and scout the competition
during the season,” said Kakatolis. “After the season, I’m on the
recruiting trail but not a whole lot. I’m still in class here.”
After graduate school is finished, Kakatolis will be looking for a job
but will not be looking to stay at NSU.
“Right now, there’s no opening here for an assistant coach, so staying
here is not an option.” Kakatolis said. “I would love to come back home
and coach but we will see what happens there.”
Kakatolis is the daughter of Peter and Susan Kakatolis and has one
sister, Kaitlyn.
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