Coaching changes have landed Evans in right place

Going to school 2,600 miles away from home is no easy task. Neither is playing volleyball for a Division I-A Big East Conference school.

However, Lauren Evans is making it look easy.

Evans has already accumulated a pair of MVP trophies to go with a list of other accomplishments. In her first year at West Virginia, she was named 2009 team MVP.

She also won the WVU Invitational MVP that year. Two weeks ago, she repeated as MVP at WVU's home-opening meet.

"It was great to start the year off like that and contribute to the team winning all the games that weekend," Evans said of being named the WVU Classic MVP.

The senior middle back transferred to West Virginia last year after two years at Concordia (Calif.) and made an immediate impact. She was named second team all-Big East Conference.

After a visit to Morgantown as a senior in high school, the Canyon Lakes, Calif., native wasn't impressed with the school and decided to stay closer to home.

"I hated it," Evans said. "I said I wouldn't go to school in West Virginia."

Evans played two seasons at Concordia and got to play for legendary coach Paula Weishoff. Though Evans played sparingly as a freshman, she stayed positive and was rewarded with more play time as a sophomore.

After the 2008 season, Weishoff left Concordia for USC and opened the door for Evans to venture to West Virginia.

"I didn't want to play for the new coach because I knew him, and I just didn't think it would be a place I wanted to stay," Evans said. "So, it was an opportunity for me to get away and try something new."

Evans left Concordia because of the coaching situation, only to run into another one at WVU. On Aug. 9, the day before preseason practices started, West Virginia hired its new coach Jill Kramer to replace long-time coach Veronica Hammersmith.

First, Kramer went out to dinner with Evans and fellow senior captain Bonnie West.

"We thought she was awesome and that we would love to play for her our senior year," Evans said.

The hiring of Kramer also gave the Mountaineers a needed spark and a new swagger.

"Now that we have a new coach, we see that we are capable of winning it all, and there should be no excuses," Evans said. "We've been underestimating ourselves a lot, and we shouldn't be doing that anymore."

Evans currently leads the team in kills and blocks. Through the first seven games, she has recorded 57 kills and 11 total blocks.

Evans intends on playing volleyball even after her collegiate career comes to an end.

"If I can stay healthy, I'd like to play overseas after I graduate," she said. "I think that would be a really fun experience especially with all the traveling."

The multidisciplinary studies major is hopeful this season will be the beginning of better things to come.

"I want to be remembered as part of the senior class that changes the way students and the people of West Virginia see volleyball," Evans said.

Evans is more than committed to the team. Her favorite memory represents a true team player. The team had spent a month last summer doing intense and grueling training. Evans said of that time, "It's my favorite team memory, because everyone sucked it up and did it, and everybody did better than we expected. It was cool to see everyone improve throughout that."

Evans wears No. 19 as tribute to her favorite athlete, Boston Red Sox pitcher Josh Beckett.

Evans describes herself as sarcastic and superstitious. She wears the same bow. This year, she's added a new item to her list of superstitions.

"Now I'm really superstitious, because all the games we've won I was wearing the same bow and the same socks," Evans said.

Though being far from home is hard, Evans knows that her time remaining in Morgantown is short.

Until she graduates, Evans will continue to wreak havoc and "kill" the competition.