Concordia University Irvine alum Elaini Kollias returned to her alma mater in 2024 as an assistant coach with the beach volleyball team.
She returned to CUI after spending 10 years and two stints at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) where she served as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator and Director of Operations.
The Rebels earned at least 15 wins in all of her years at UNLV, which included an undefeated season in the spring of 2021 and several trips to the NCAA Tournament. She also helped secur the school’s first-ever National Championship in program history where the Rebels were crowned the National Invitational Volleyball Champions.
Kollias has been a high school and club coach for both boys and girls for over 35 years with time at Saddleback Valley Volleyball Club, started by her mentor and former CUI head coach George Carey (’95), as well as Orange Coast and Vegas United.
Prior to UNLV, she spent three years at West Virginia University as a graduate assistant and assistant coach. There she earned her master’s in athletic coaching education in 2003.
A former Orange County Athlete of the Year, her playing career started at Saddleback Junior College (Mission Viejo, Calif.) where she was later inducted into the Saddleback Hall of Fame. Kollias then went on to CUI where she currently sits in the top 10 in the record books while earning her bachelor’s degree in Liberal Studies (’96) and also her Elementary teaching credential (’97).
In 2002, the Dana Point, Calif. native was a member of an American contingent that won the gold medal at the Scottish National Championships.
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