TOLEDO, Ohio — It typically takes people a while to find their calling, but Zoe Kertesz found hers in middle school.
"The second her hand touched a volleyball it was like, 'this is what I'm supposed to do'" said Zoe's mom, Anna Kertesz.
Kertesz's love for the game developed as she continued to play in high school at St. Ursula Academy and was quickly influenced by others to play in college.
"Freshman year is when I started to get looking because girls that were in the senior class at the time started committing and I was like 'Oh, wow that's really cool like all these older girls are playing in college,'" Kertesz, now a senior, said. "So that was kind of always like in the back of my mind."
From that point, her sole priority was to get to the next level.
With the year-round schedule of high school volleyball in the fall and club in the spring, she had plenty of opportunities to showcase her talents — until she didn't.
"Junior year I got cut from the program so then I didn't make varsity," she said. "When I got the news I obviously was kind of disappointed because everyone was like 'oh, I'm going to be on varsity next year' and then getting the news that I didn't."
The dismissal left her uncertain of what the future would look like.
"I remember just being crushed for her. You never want that for any kid. Your heart is just as big as anyone," said Zoe's private lesson trainer and family friend Ryann Cox. "But I remember getting the news and being really sad for her and also wanting to make light of the situation and remember, you can still do what you want to do, it's just going to be a different path."
Kertesz knew she had one of two choices, but decided she would go to any length to achieve her ultimate goal.
"We spent hours in the car during the week but it was important to her to be able to do that to get the extra training, go to the big tournaments, get in front of all the coaches because playing in college was really her end game," Anna Kertesz recalled. "There would be days where we would get up at 6 a.m. and drive somewhere for tournaments or a lesson here at 8 a.m. on a Sunday and she's never griped about anything because it's always what she loved doing."
In addition to the extra time, training and emails she put out, Kertesz made a volleyball Instagram account to also get herself in front of coaches.
"I started the account sophomore year, just posting film from games and following colleges, just kind of like another recruitment platform," she said. "And then my videos started having lots of views and I started gaining followers and then we posted reels of me here just kind of reaching out and posting to see what we could do with it."
Since then, Kertesz has gained a hefty following of over 13,000 people and has connected with girls in the volleyball community.
Because of that perseverance and hard work, she was able to finally put pen to paper.
"That moment was like, 'this is really going to happen,'" Anna said. "You think that's always going to happen because that's why you're doing what you're doing but then to know, 'OK, this is really going happen.' It was just crying tears of happiness because it's finally like everything has been able to come full circle for her then."
Kertesz will begin her collegiate journey at Indiana Tech in the fall of 2024 but is going to be taking more with her than just her volleyball skills.
"I want to be an example for other people like 'Hey, you can have bumps in the road but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to stop doing what you love. You can do what you put your mind to," she said. "It really means a lot to me knowing all the hard work and dedication I've put in and I think little me would be really proud of where I have come today.
"It's just such an awesome feeling knowing I've worked forever to get to this moment and it's finally coming so just trying to soak it all in and get ready for college now."