Two-time AVCA All-American. Four time All-South Region. GSC Champion Scholar-Athlete. Four-time GSC champion. All-time block leader in UWF volleyball history.
 
You may now add another title and chapter to that eye-popping list of achievements. 

Not ready to say goodbye to the sport upon her graduation and the conclusion of her Argonaut playing career in December, Jenna Zydlo has now begun a new adventure in Albania, one that ties in her prowess at the net with her passions outside of the sport. 
 
She has just completed her first season as a professional middle blocker for Dinamo Volleyball in Tirana, Albania, of the Alabanian Volleyball League. 
 
Of course, it's clear how she got here from the standpoint of her athleticism and accomplishments on the court. Volleyball coaches everywhere would salivate over a 6'0" middle who comes from a program with a winning tradition and brings such contagious energy in every match that can be felt all throughout the gym. 
 
She set a huge bar for the UWF program, shattering the career record for total blocks with 370, breaking Lindsay Homme's mark of 354 that stood for over a decade in the Argos' sweep at Mississippi College last November. This was a month after she led the team with 19 kills on .667 hitting to clinch the top spot in the conference in a win at Alabama Huntsville. She went on to score her 1000th kill as an Argo in her Senior Day match versus Trevecca Nazarene in a season that also saw her hit the second-best mark in the GSC with .360, which was also the sixth-best in a season in program history and two spots behind her .378 mark as a sophomore, while tallying the third-most career sets played (378) and third-highest career attack percentage (.341) in Argonaut volleyball history. As if that were not enough, she brought her prowess in the classroom and leadership in the UWF locker room every day.
 
But what prompted Jenna to make this jump personally?
 
From a young age, the double-major graduate in Anthropology and Studio Art has always taken an interest in other cultures. 
 
"I grew up in a family that loved the outdoors and traveling. So, when I was a kid, l spent most of my time at parks and on my grandparents' farm," Zydlo said. "My mother also has a love for history, so we always visited museums together too. And I do think people that have a deep respect for the outdoors ties in with an interest in history and archeology."
 
"As I got older my interest continued to grow and I just loved learning about history and other cultures. I have a twin brother, and when we were kids we'd fight for the remote on what to watch after school! He'd want to watch SpongeBob or Scooby-Doo, but I wanted to watch National Geographic or Animal Planet. My aunt noticed that, and she'd give me National Geographic magazines which encouraged that interest, so I continued to learn about nature, archeology, and people and places all over the world. Focusing on archaeology, you spend a lot of time outside, and really, the outdoors, nature, history, it really kind of comes together, especially  in field school and experiencing everything in person. I think that interest is deeply rooted in me."
 
For this reason, the native of Basehor, Kansas, was right in her element during the volleyball program's trip to Europe this past summer ahead of her senior season! In early August, the team had the opportunity to embark on a one-of-a-kind team-bonding experience abroad. They played several exhibition matches against national junior volleyball clubs from the region while taking in the sights and culture of the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia and Italy in the historic cities of Prague, Vienna, Maribor, Venice and Milan. 
 
"The trip was the trip of my dreams!" she recalled. "I mean, how many people can say that they got to go on a European trip with 22 of their best friends? It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And, as an archaeology and art major, here I was in Europe, seeing in real life and experiencing the cultures, the architecture, the artwork that I'd learned about in school. And then being able to tell all my teammates about it, it was amazing! Plus being able to play matches, they were so much fun. It was hot in the gyms because it's not air-conditioned there, but to me, I didn't even feel the heat because I was so excited. And the matches were so much fun."
   
After taking such a trip, it's natural to feel a desire to move to that location. However, Zydlo's path to doing so actually started a few years prior.
 
Zydlo's connection with former assistant coach Haley Kindall was key to her planning this next stage. A middle blocker herself with a decorated college career at Wheeling, Kindall went on to play professional volleyball in Germany, and told Zydlo that it could be an option. Zydlo was excited by the prospect of it, never having considered it before, but it got pushed to the backburner as her immediate thoughts and plans were still with her college career.
 
That all changed this past summer. Head coach Melissa Wolter arranged the trip through Bring It Promotions, a volleyball travel agency that schedules team tours and represents players beginning their careers overseas. The team's tour guide for the trip was Nick Ptaschinski, BIP's Director of Women's Placements. As it happens, Ptaschinski was Kindall's agent when she played European volleyball! One thing led to another, and Zydlo was ultimately able to use the trip as a vacation and a business trip. Ptaschinski is now her agent as she begins her professional career. 
 
Zydlo still can't believe how all these arrangements fell perfectly into place. "Being at UWF, Coach knew Nick, Haley knew Nick. The connections were already there for me, but Nick being able to see me play in person and then being able to send out my video and talk to his connections, and the trip itself was like killing two birds with one stone. Because usually, you have to go on a tour. Your agent has to see you play and it's a process, but since I was already in Europe with the team then I didn't have to take a separate trip! It really worked out. I was so fortunate, even with the timing that we took that trip my senior year, because it could have even been different if we took it one year prior. So, I really lucked out!
 
"When I look at my life, especially that I graduated early this year, it seems like everything was meant to be. Because, I moved 15 hours away from home to go to Florida for four years, and that's one stepping stone. And then, here I am for half a year moving abroad, and that's the next stone, and finally next year I'll be going for a full year. And so, it's like every step I took from high school to college to now to next year is a stepping stone, and it all fell into place. Even with the European trip being last summer, which allowed me to see European ball and meet my agent, I couldn't have been luckier! I'm so fortunate. I really do believe it was God's plan, because it all lined up for me. I'm so very lucky and grateful."
 
She now gets to live this spring season in an area very similar to where she toured and played with her college teammates last summer. "Looking at playing abroad, that's a dream as well because I get to be paid, not only to play my favorite sport in the entire world, but to come to a different country, learn about another culture, and experience the history here. Albania, for example, was under a Communist regime until the '90s. And so, there's some really interesting museums here that are in bunkers. The architecture is what you would see with a Communist regime. And there's spots all over the city where you can experience that history. One of my favorite activities is to explore the city and find those spots. They even have the front half of a car that ran into one of the embassies for people to escape, and you just find that on a random street! And the thing with Europe is, because it's so much older than the US, that history is deeply rooted everywhere, and you get to see it everywhere. It's just so interesting to me! Being able to be here and do that, it really is truly a dream come true."
 
None of this is to say that the move hasn't come without challenges. However, she has approached playing against European teams, and now playing for one, with the same mentality she held in every match as an Argonaut.
 
"They definitely play a different sort of ball here," Zydlo says. "Actually, the ball itself is different. In the European league they don't use any of the balls we use in the US. They also tend to set higher and use a lot more tooling, and play with different techniques. It was so new to play against because I'd been playing against American volleyball players for 10-plus years. But, that made it even more fun. And honestly, last summer when my future agent Nick was there watching me, I knew there was an associated amount of pressure. But, I didn't want to focus on that. I just wanted to focus on the same thing I do every match. Every match I just want to be excited, I want to be super competitive, and I want to come in super confident. I didn't and still don't treat the matches like they are special or different, I just come in how I always want to play. And honestly, that extra pressure of Nick watching me, if anything, helped me. 
 
"Even though the style of play is different, like I said before, I approach everything the same. I just play my game. If I focus on those outside factors that I can't control, then I would mess up my own game. And so, to me, the differences just add more excitement, and I play my best when I'm super excited, positive, and joyful. Even now, playing in Europe, I really approach everything exactly the same."
 
And that approach is reaping benefits for her while playing for Dinamo in the same way it did at UWF. Her experience playing in the tough-as-nails NCAA DII South Region and helping her team win four GSC Championships in her four seasons in Pensacola has only helped her reach this stage of her career.  
"The high level of competition in the South Region really pushed me as both an athlete and a competitor," she said. "It taught me how to perform under pressure, especially with regionals and championships. I was lucky to be a part of many of those over the years, and so through the years I've gotten better and better. The region is consistently filled with talented teams that really push you to perform your best, physically and mentally, 100 percent of the time. I mean, all the teams are good, all the girls are good. And even on our team [at UWF], even the players that are considered 'backup players,' they are so good. So, practice every day is at a super high level, everybody is pushing each other. And then, of course, you have the coaching staff pushing us as well, So, your teammates push you, the other teams push you, the coaches push you, and then of course you push yourself. 
 
"I would say UWF definitely prepared me for playing professional volleyball, because now that I'm here playing professional volleyball, the level and the competitiveness is very similar to our competition in the South region. It doesn't really feel like I'm playing a completely different type of ball. All those years I spent at UWF growing and working hard and playing has prepared me for playing here. And not only with the staff pushing us, but as well as my teammates and the UWF staff instilling so much belief, support and confidence in me. I am definitely a product of the UWF machine!
 
 "Coach Wolter and all the coaching staff and girls I've had on my teams over the years, they have just been phenomenal. I've created so many great memories, and I've learned so many life lessons, whether it be teamwork, independence from being away from home, work ethic, etc. I really do believe that you can do anything that you put your mind to if you surround yourself with the right people, if you believe in yourself and if you work hard. Those are just some other lessons that Coach Wolter and her coaching staff instills in us as players, because not only does she want us to be great players on the volleyball court, but she wants us to be great people off the court. And then when we face these challenges in life, we've already faced them in a different way in volleyball, and so we know how to move forward. We know how to kind of break down those walls and grow and take on a challenge." 
 
Indeed, she has taken all these lessons and channeled them into helping her build bonds on her team and aiming to lead Dinamo to the heights reached in each of her seasons at UWF. As part of a team that includes players from Albania, Italy and Ukraine as well as a pair of American outside hitters, one from fellow DII powerhouse Gannon and another from DI Fresno State, Zydlo helped lead her team to a historic achievement less than a month into her time on the roster.   
 
Early in the season on January 21, Dinamo traveled into the mountains of Korçë, Albania, to take on Skënderbeu, the No. 1-ranked team in the league. The team had not lost a home game in three years, part of which Zydlo says can be attributed to the conditions. The gyms in Albania are not heated, and with it being that time of year, the match was played in near-freezing conditions. Zydlo admits that was new territory for her after playing in heated and air-conditioned gyms in the States, and especially playing college and beach volleyball in Florida! Despite that, Dinamo earned its first win over Skënderbeu in epic fashion, accomplishing it in the same way UWF beat Barry her sophomore year, when she led the team with 20 kills versus the No. 17 Bucs. 
 
"We actually ended up reverse sweeping them, which is even more insane!" Zydlo tells. "That was one of our first games of the season, I think that really set a precedent for the rest of the season. Our team is very young, but we're very strong. And I think with the support of the other outsides from America, me, and then some of the older players that were already on the team, I think we can really help those younger girls grow."
 
In the same way that UWF has had to go through Alabama Huntsville to claim GSC titles and Tampa in regionals the last few years, Zydlo says the chances are high that, in order to win championships in the future, they will have to go through Skënderbeu again. But that's only a minor obstacle for her at this point. "They [Skënderbeu] are a very good team, and I think it's going to be a fight for sure, but I believe we can do it, 100 percent. And all it takes is belief."
 
Belief. That's a big theme with Jenna, as one can tell just from having a conversation with her about her career in the sport of volleyball. It's one of several core tenets that keep her going each and every day, and that she hopes she'll be remembered by.
 
"Something I really want to do is to just show others and inspire others, no matter if they're young or old or my age, that if you work hard, believe in yourself and chase your dreams, that you can do it!" Zydlo said with conviction. "There's so many times I was told no, that I can't for one reason or another. But you really can! You just have to surround yourself with the right people, you have to believe and you have to work hard. 
 
"Something I really also want to be known for is just my positivity, my love for the game, my passion. I think that's something that I would like to be my legacy as well, because I truly love the game with my whole heart, being on the court and playing with my best friends and just the challenge of it, the competitiveness. As well as the type of teammate to be, you should always push yourself and push others, and have a team-first mentality. I always say, for the team to win, if it took me not playing, then I would do it. Because even if you're not playing on the court, you are helping your team win in practice, on the sidelines, by being a listening ear to your best friends on the team. No matter what part you are, you matter."
 
And what does the Argonauts' fearless leader have to say about her star middle?
 
"I'm so extremely proud of Jenna for setting a goal to play overseas after college, and achieving her goal," says head coach Melissa Wolter. "It's been fun to watch Jenna develop into the young woman she is today and to see her make her dreams a reality. Jenna left a huge mark in the history books of our program and now she joins the likes of Naiara Fernandes and Chelsea Kroll (Wilhoite) in taking her talents overseas. We always tell our players to dream big and chase their dreams and that's exactly what Jenna is doing!"
 
Two-time AVCA All-American. Four time All-South Region. GSC Champion Scholar-Athlete. Four-time GSC champion. All-time block leader in UWF volleyball history.
 
Professional volleyball player. 
 
This former Argo is not stopping anytime soon, taking her UWF legacy abroad!