JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- There’s 2945.22 miles separating Lima, Peru and Jacksonville, Florida. That’s the journey that Dolphins setter Jade Cuya Cobos has taken for her volleyball career. 

This summer, she’s been building her legacy in halves of the Western Hemisphere.

In the spring of 2025, Cuya Cobos transferred to Jacksonville University after an illustrious season at Odessa College. A Third-Team NJCAA All-American, she was one of the best setters in the country, ranking sixth in total assists and third in assists per set.

She practiced with her new Dolphins teammates in the spring, before another opportunity called: a chance to train with the Peruvian national team.

Peru has a proud volleyball tradition, winning a silver medal in the 1988 Summer Olympics and competing in countless other tournaments over the last 50 years. For Cuya Cobos, this was an opportunity to compete amongst the very best for her home country.

“I was really excited because they’re a lot of people [on the team] that are really good,” Cuya Cobos. “They’re like my idols.”

After training with the team, she got the call: Peru wanted her to compete at the inaugural Women’s Volleyball Copa América. The new tournament is one of the top volleyball competitions in South America, and a chance for Cuya Cobos to compete at the highest level.

With the blessing of her coaches in Jacksonville, she joined her Peru teammates in Betim, Brazil for the tournament.

The competition consisted of four matches, with the team with the most total points at the end named champions. Peru dropped its first match against Argentina, but quickly found its groove through the rest of the week.

In the next match, Las Hijas del Sol --- the Daughters of the Sun as the team is nicknamed --- earned their best win of the tournament: a four-set triumph over Brazil. From that point, Peru closed out the week with straight-sets wins over Chile and Venezuela to lock in a historic silver medal.

“That was a new group, we only started practicing two weeks before [the tournament] so winning silver was really exciting,” Cuya Cobos said.

Despite being one of the younger players on the squad, Cuya Cobos contributed in all four games, even recording a point against Chile in the penultimate match of the tournament. As Peru continues to climb in the world of international volleyball, up to 37th in the FIVB World Ranking as of Aug. 25, Cuya Cobos hopes to continue to represent her country at the international stage.

But before that, she’s preparing to parlay her Copa América experience into a successful season with the surging Jacksonville Dolphins.

Coming from Junior College, Cuya Cobos has reveled in the talent of her teammates and the competition within her team.

“It’s really good competition with everyone,” Cuya Cobos said. “I want to be better every day. I know it’s going to be hard, because everyone is good, but I want to push myself every day.”

She enters the 2025 season as a key piece of the Dolphins attack. She’ll be flanked by a bevy of talent, including preseason All-ASUN honoree Breanna McDonough and Rutgers transfer Rebekah Williams on the outside.

The Dolphins open their season Friday with a double-header in the Crimson Tide Invitational. Jacksonville will face UAB at 11 a.m. EST before facing the Alabama Crimson Tide at 8 p.m. EST.

The match against the host Crimson Tide will be streamed on SEC Network+. Live stats for the entire tournament can be found on JUDolphins.com.