West Aurora's Carlini can do it all

For everything West Aurora sophomore Lauren Carlini can do on the volleyball court, it's what she can't that has created such a buzz in the area volleyball community.

Nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch.

Try to find one thing Carlini can't do. Need a pinpoint pass from the back row to start the attack? Check. Need a set in a perfect spot for a hitter? No problem. Need to stuff the opponent's best hitter? Send the 6-foot Carlini to block. Need an ace or a thunderous kill? She's got that covered with style.

This is how her high school coach Kari Nicholson, who has seen Carlini play 66 games and countless practices the past two years, puts it.

“Lauren is an excellent setter, an excellent hitter, an excellent blocker and an excellent server,” Nicholson said. “She is an all-around great volleyball player. We need to hit, she finds the hole; we need to put a ball in a hitter's hand, she sets it up to the right person.”

This year's captain of the Tri-Cities All-Area volleyball team, the Wisconsin recruit led West Aurora in the regular season with 179 kills, a .470 hitting percentage, 52 blocks, 77 digs, 27 aces and was second on the team with 195 assists.

Carlini can do everything on the volleyball court and do it an incredibly high level only a few can. There's a reason Wisconsin among many others was offering her a scholarship her freshman year.

While she can put the ball away with as much authority as any player in the area, Carlini said her favorite part of the game is setting.

“Definitely setting,” Carlini said. “You get to be involved in every single play. With hitting you get the ball every once in awhile but with setting you get it every single play and get to be the leader and quarterback on the court.”

In position to rest on her laurels this fall with her college commitment in hand, Carlini did the opposite. Coast, a verb the dictionary defines as “to advance or proceed with little or no effort,” is a word that doesn't exist in Carlini's world.

She elevated her game to another level as a sophomore at West Aurora, improving her defense and leadership to go with her already outstanding talents setting and hitting. The Blackhawks improved along with her, rising to third in the DuPage Valley Conference.

“You want to make yourself better for the team you are going to play with when you get to college,” Carlini said. “Basically (Wisconsin coach Pete) coach Waite said ‘You are committed doesn't mean you can slack off.' So basically I took that and every day I think how can I work toward my goal of playing in college?

“I always push myself as much as I can. My nature I try to be the best I can be. I try to make people around me better so there is a solid foundation of the team.”

Nicholson, who called Carlini ‘by far the best all-around volleyball player” she has ever coached, has seen that work ethic first hand.

“She is constantly training to be better,” Nicholson said. “She sets goals and she accomplishes them. I am not sure she has an off-season. She is determined to better herself as a volleyball player and is constantly pushing herself to the next level.”

A determined competitor on the court, Carlini has worked hard to bring out the best in her teammates. West Aurora improved from a 14-20 record her freshman year to 21-11 this season heading into regional play.

“She seems more comfortable in the role of team leader and more comfortable with her team as well,” Nicholson said. “They play really well together and I think a lot of that has to do with the chemistry of the team but it also has to do with her as a leader. She not only leads verbally with expectations she/they have for the team; she also leads by her work ethic, love and example of play.”

As a freshman, Carlini finished with 185 assists, 105 kills, 42 blocks and 30 aces. She was voted to the DuPage Valley Conference All-Conference team. She said her setting has improved the most as a sophomore.

“Definitely accuracy of my setting. Last year I didn't have perfect timing with my hitters but this year I have really, really good hitters and we work together well.”

Off the court Carlini said she enjoys music and spending time on the computer. She and senior teammate Katie Ruhl are the “mix masters” in charge of the mix music tape West Aurora plays before its home matches.

“Lauren is a wonderful young lady with a very funny outgoing personality,” Nicholson said. “She is able to focus and really get serious about the task at hand, but she also can be 15 and silly. She is always encouraging to her teammates, she can lighten the mood or intensify it with her actions or her encouragement.”

Carlini's sophomore season honors include all-tournament selections at the Benet Invitational and Glenbard East's Autumnfest. She could add DuPage Valley Conference player of the year at least if other DVC coaches feel half as strongly as Wheaton North's Carole Kristensen on this topic.

“She's awesome, hands down she is the best player in the DVC and I've been around a long time,” Kristensen said. “She's so versatile. She's got that all-around game. It's not just her setting, it's not just her hitting.

“She does it all. The serving, her defense has really come along this year. Hands down, by far, the best player in the DVC.”

Carlini committed to Wisconsin in March 2010 of her freshman year after first attending a Wisconsin camp as a seventh-grader. Carlini also was considering Michigan State, Michigan, Nebraska and UCLA among the 40 to 50 schools that had expressed interest.

Waite told Carlini it is the earliest he has offered any player a scholarship. Carlini's mother Gale played volleyball at Wheaton North High School, College of DuPage and Appalachian State. Lauren Carlini has been playing volleyball competitively since she was 5.

Carlini hasn't just wowed at area gyms, she has made a big name for herself on the national scene. This past summer Carlini was selected to the U.S. Girls' Youth Olympic Team that competed at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in August in Singapore, though Carlini had to withdraw because of a mistake that only high school juniors and seniors were allowed to play.

This coming summer Carlini said she is not going to try out for the national team again and instead spend some time playing beach volleyball to see if that sport might be in her long-term plans.

“It's kind of weird for an Illinois player to play beach volleyball but it seems very fun,” Carlini said.

Besides getting some experience in beach volleyball, Carlini said one of her goals is improving her vertical leap and being able to touch 10 feet over her current 9-9. She already has started a training program with this specific goal in mind.

“I'd like to keep hitting as long as I possibly can,” Carlini said. “I love hitting a lot too and to do that you need a huge vertical, 10 foot at least and to run a 5-1 (in college) you need to block in the front row.”

That is still over two years away. Carlini said she's looking forward to seeing how the next two years go at West Aurora and if the Blackhawks can continue progressing like they did this year. West Chicago made history this past fall with its first DVC title in over 30 years; Carlini leads a talented group of West Aurora juniors and sophomores who would like to follow the Wildcats' lead.

“I think it's been one of the best years in awhile. Of course we had our peaks and valleys like every team does but when we had those peaks we managed to stay on them awhile and those valleys I think we did a good job of coming out of them and coming out strong the next game,” Carlini said.

“Definitely in the next two years I'd love to take a DVC title because that has not been achieved in a long while.”

Seem like a difficult goal? Just remember the things Carlini can't do on the volleyball court.

That's right. Nothing.