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Saar remembers when she was one of five wide-eyed, unassertive freshmen in the Georgetown Volleyball program three years ago. Today, she’s no longer just a quiet girl from a small town in Michigan. Saar stands alone as the only remaining member of her recruiting class, playing with, as she describes it, “intentionality.”Lauren
“Coming from a senior’s perspective, that’s even more at the front of my mind, intentionality,” Saar says. “This might be my last game, this might be my last practice, and so on and so forth. It’s hard to envision that if seniors tell you that as a freshman, but you don’t really know until you’re almost done.”
Saar admits to feeling challenged by the exodus of her classmates, but relishes that she has stuck with Georgetown volleyball all throughout.
“Yeah, it was (difficult to watch her classmates go),” Saar says. “And not just my class, too, some other classes there were people that were on the team that left for one reason or another.” It’s difficult, but this year as a senior you have a different mindset than before.”
“I am 100% glad that I stayed and stuck with it.”
Originally recruited as a libero, a primarily defensive position, Saar quickly transitioned to hitting outside and established herself as a cornerstone of the Hoya offense, something she was more accustomed to in high school.
“It’s an interesting story with Lauren. When I first saw her, she was three inches shorter than she is now, as a sophomore in high school,” said Head Coach Arlissa Williams. “But she continued to grow, both physically and in attacking aggressively on hits. She’s a person who is so positive, never complains, and always makes the best out of every situation. You don’t get that from players all the time.”
Saar is the unquestioned leader of a young Hoyas team, setting a positive example for underclassmen as well as being a strong vocal presence. However, the latter was not always a forte of the seasoned outside hitter.
“Lauren has been a great leader for us and has always made the right decisions on and off the court,” says Williams. “Lauren has always led by example, but now she has gone outside her comfort zone by being more vocal, which has been the biggest thing for her.”
Saar is modest about her own leadership capabilities, but stresses that her advice to the younger players has carried just as much meaning on the court as it has in the classroom. In particular, the senior points to the adjustment period that all incoming student-athletes face as one of her biggest hurdles at Georgetown. Whether it was consulting professors about exams and papers, advisors about potential majors and career paths, or just getting used to the daily grind of practice and lifting, the changes were plenty for Saar when she first arrived on the Hilltop.
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“I think that not just in volleyball, but also in school there’s so much they don’t know, just about being freshmen at a university in the first place,” Saar, an English and Film Studies major, observes. “While you need to know time management as a student-athlete in high school, it’s at a whole new level in college. I’ve had to grow more as a leader because I have to be a little more verbal and communicative, because that’s what they need and what helped me as a freshman.”
There is also the on-court effects of improved team chemistry. Saar points out that the quality team cohesion off the court ultimately looms large in the team’s performance on the court. That perfect set you saw from Saar that set up a kill for Symone Speech? Chances are, a lot of what made that possible was fostered by the trust the teammates build for each other outside the lines.
“Whether it’s conditioning, as they say the suffering brings you closer together, and there’s also just the effort to hang out with each other more than you normally would,” Saar says. Otherwise, I think that your relationship off the court certainly impact your relationships on the court. So whether you want to it to be separate or not, inevitably there’s going to be an impact there. We’re really grateful this season we have a great team dynamic both on and off the court, which we haven’t always had.”
Having just achieved her 1000th career dig, Saar is certainly no stranger to accomplishments on the court. But from talking to her, you wouldn’t know. In fact, she wasn’t even aware of the upcoming milestone until I mentioned it to her.
“Yeah, I honestly had no idea until you mentioned it just now,” Saar says. “You can’t do anything individually, without the people around you. And this season more than previous ones, I’m focused on stats a lot less. It’s something you can get caught up with a lot as a freshman or sophomore. I had never thought about stats before, but being in college you tend to focus on it a lot. I’m realizing I’m having a lot more fun this year just playing and not focusing on it at all.”
In fact, Saar’s most cherished moments of her accomplished Hoya career don’t center around wins or any broken records. Rather, the senior will reminisce about the times where things were not working out, and the team pushed through to find an answer. Those micro moments, where a busted set or mistimed block somehow wound up in a point for the Hoyas, are the snapshots that remain.
“I think it’s the little moments where something doesn’t go perfectly, and we get a point,” Saar says. “It wasn’t the perfect play, but it worked out and then we just get even more excited because it was chaotic. Take for example, [freshman Paige McKnight], our center. She does not get excited about things, visibly. She was just going crazy this last match, and that got everyone hyped. It’s the little moments in between that are unconventional, that are the happiest.”
“You might remember winning a game, or a championship, but oftentimes you remember the ties and relationships you’ve fostered, and how you made someone feel.”
Saar does not quite quantify what her experience at Georgetown has been like, especially measured against her expectations, but then again, can anyone?
“It’s not what you expect, though I don’t know what you expect. There are definitely ups and downs throughout the four years, but this year has probably been of the most different seasons because we’ve had a completely new set of girls on the team. But it’s been one of my favorite years. We have an amazing team dynamic. It’s not what you expect. but I don’t think it can ever be what you expect it to be. I’m very happy with the season so far and thankful for the four years I’ve had so far. I’m going to miss it a lot.”
There is no question that Saar has left her mark on the Georgetown University Volleyball Program, one dig and five connections at a time.
