Freeport grad Lauren Lampus hopes to lead Westminster volleyball back to top of PAC

This college volleyball stuff is easy. At least that’s what Lauren Lampus must have thought during her first two seasons at Westminster.

After winning two WPIAL Class 2A titles and a PIAA title during her time at Freeport, Lampus rolled into the New Wilmington campus and was an immediate contributor to a pair of Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship teams. A six-rotation starter from her freshman season, Lampus also earned a pair of all-PAC honorable mention honors.

Easy.

Then came last season, and the Titans were in unfamiliar territory: near the bottom of the PAC standings and on the outside looking in when the conference playoffs began. It was a bit of a shock to the system for someone who had known nothing but success.

“I think maybe we just expected things to go right from the beginning and just expected everything to go perfectly and to make sense,” said the rising senior. “But that’s not always how it is. My freshman and sophomore year, things just kind of clicked, and things were working and they just looked good all the time.

“I think last season we expected the same thing, but it just didn’t work like that.”

So as Lampus and the Titans get ready to open preseason camp in about a month, there is a renewed focus on getting the program back to the top of the conference. Since joining the PAC and becoming eligible for the postseason in 2002, coach Tammy Swearingen’s team has won six titles.

With seven seniors and a large sophomore class that gained valuable experience last season, Westminster seems to have the ingredients for another shot at the title.

Lampus will play no small part in the effort. Remarkably consistent during her career, Lampus has three all-conference honorable mention honors and has averaged between 2.09, 2.41 and 2.03 kills per set in each season. At some point this fall, she will reach her 500th career kill to go with the nearly 600 digs she has accumulated.

And while Swearingen knows what she will get from Lampus in terms of raw numbers, she wants to see more in the way of leadership.

“She is starting to find her voice,” said the 32nd-year coach. “She certainly understands that the team looks to her as a leader all the time just because of her volleyball IQ and her performance on the court. It kind of speaks for itself.

“I’m constantly telling her to use her voice and not be afraid to speak up. As she grows and matures, she’s doing much better with that, but she’s more of a ‘let my actions speak louder than my words’ kind of girl.”

Added Lampus: “I’m usually a quiet person or a one-on-one person. Even when I try to talk loud, it just doesn’t come out that way. I’m definitely better one-on-one, and, like coach said, I definitely feel like my play shows more than my words.”

Her play has shown plenty despite her 5-foot-7 frame — small for an outside hitter even at the Division III level. So Swearingen has helped her combat that by expanding her hitting tool box.

Like many hitters, Lampus, Swearingen said, was able to get by in high school largely on athletic ability. Simply hitting the ball hard was enough.

But facing taller, more athletic competition day in and day out at the college level necessitated a more varied approach.

Now, Lampus is able to use a variety of shots to score points and keep the opposing block off balance.

“She has worked hard on different kinds of off-speed (shots) and different angles,” Swearingen said. “She can hit a harder angle ball now than she could when she came in. She has learned how to go off the block a lot better rather than just hitting into it.”

Said Lampus: “I remember coming in, I was pretty good at that really hard cross-court shot. But now I can turn down the line when I want to. I can hit the cut shot when I want to. I can hit off the block. I can roll-shot. I feel confident in the different kinds of shots I can hit.”

Lampus also has improved her defense, particularly blocking. From the back row, she averages nearly three digs per set for her career, but, because of her height, her blocking numbers have been pedestrian. Last season, she averaged a personal-best 0.34 blocks per set.

That might not be an overwhelming number, but it marked an increase of nearly 0.10 from her previous best.

“If I could make her a little bit taller, I would,” Swearingen said with a laugh. “But she’s athletic. She jumps well.”

The Titans recently completed their youth camp, and Lampus was among the players who served as an instructor, demonstrating her various skills for the campers. Swearingen said, even in that setting, she could see improvement in Lampus from the spring.

The kids noticed, too, oohing and aahing as she pounded spikes and dug shots all over the court.

If Westminster is to regain its PAC crown, jaw-dropping performances from Lampus will play no small part. And, just maybe, she will be able to break into the all-conference second team or, perhaps, first team.

“I am pleased with how I have played but always know I can do better,” she said. “No one ever plays a perfect game ever, so there’s always things I can work on and improve on. I guess my goal for this season is to give everything I have. It’s my last season, so I am excited to play hard.

“I mean, it would be really cool to get that first-team honor, but I think sometimes they look at the bigger hitters. The taller hitters.”

No matter.

Lampus gladly will take a third championship over a first-team award.