Lauren Miller
Steve Virgen
When Newport Harbor High’s championship hopes are on the line in
girls volleyball, Lauren Miller will have selective memory. She will
forget about the pain in her knee.
Miller, a senior outside hitter for Newport’s volleyball team, has
been battling tendinitis in her knee throughout her final season as a
Sailor. But when the action starts, the pain is gone.
“You definitely don’t feel it during the game, but there is
definitely some soreness afterward,” said Miller, who has been a key
player in the Sailors’ run to the CIF Southern Section Division II-AA
championship match against Mira Costa today at 4:30 p.m. at Cypress
College. “I’m at about 80%. I still hurt, but it’s not like I can’t
play because of it. It’s soreness, but it’s not going to bother me.”
Back in August, the aches in her knee weren’t the only pain she
was experiencing. While her friends and teammates played in a
tournament in Hawaii, Miller watched. The Sailors’ squad is made up
of mostly seniors, eight of them, who made it a strong point for this
season to be their best. In the beginning, Miller sat.
She wanted to be with them, but the pain held her back.
“You don’t get hurt in your senior year,” Miller said. “But I had
to sit out for two months and I knew it would be for the best. It
definitely wasn’t fun. I guess I did learn about the game from a
different view. I’m just glad that I had to sit for two months and I
didn’t have to sit out the whole year. In Hawaii, I really wanted to
play, but at least I could still be there.”
As the season progressed and as the Sailors won the Sea View
League championship, Miller’s knee gained more strength. She began to
rediscover her comfort zone. Last year, Miller played as a middle
blocker mostly, yet she has practiced and competed more as an outside
hitter. This season she was eased into the action as she went back to
outside hitter.
Also, twice a week, she goes to work away from the Sailors. That’s
when she is in physical therapy. Miller’s comeback has also been
aided by the CIF playoffs. It’s time for her to step up. She doesn’t
want her season to end.
Last week, Miller delivered key contributions in three Newport
victories. The Daily Pilot Athlete of the Week produced eight kills,
two aces and two blocks in a three-game win over Villa Park in the
CIF Division II-AA first round Nov. 13.
She also helped lead the Sailors to a three-game victory over
Katella in the second round Nov. 13 and capped the week with 10 kills
and two aces as Newport defeated host El Dorado in four games in the
quarterfinals Nov. 15.
Off the court, Miller also gained success as she finalized her
decision to commit to Baylor University.
“The best thing about her has been that her best volleyball has
been at the end of the season,” Newport Coach Dan Glenn said. “She’s
one of those that plays great at the end of the year and hopefully
she continues to do that. She was our high for kills and aces and she
had a huge match [Tuesday] night.”
Miller continued to show her determination and talent against
Edison in the semifinals Tuesday night. She recorded a team-high 16
kills and four aces, including two which came when she served for
nine straight points in the fourth game of a five-game thrilling
victory for the Sailors.
“My whole thing is that I’m a senior and I have nothing to lose,”
Miller said. “All of us [seniors], we’re giving it all we have and we
don’t want our season to end. We have been working for four years for
this so we might as well give it our all.”
“The main thing is that we are all friends and most of us are all
seniors; it’s our last chance to do what we want to do,” Miller
continued. “It makes us work hard. We all want it. There’s not one
person who wants it more than the other. We all want it just as bad.”
While Miller has had the desire, she has been able to forget about
the pain in her knee. It’s there but when Mira Costa comes to play,
Miller will too.
“It’s hard for her to go full-throttle all the time, but she kind
of saves it for those matches,” Glenn said. “It’s just tough for her.
She was able to do it [Tuesday] night. She really stepped it up.”
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