Gibault senior earns second straight BND Small-School Volleyball Player of the Year honor

When looking for a way to motivate her top player, Gibault coach Heather Lazarides turned to the one thing that Lauren Goldschmidt’s talent couldn’t get her.

The captain’s job.

“When she was a younger player, she was a talented kid coming in,” Lazarides said. “I wasn’t seeing the production that I wanted, so I had to figure out a better way to coach her. I learned that making her work for something and making her earn it really worked for her.

“She had to show me not only production on the court, but also production with the team and working to bring them along as a unit.”

Already a good player, Goldschmidt worked even harder to earn her coach’s trust and it paid off. Area coaches voted Goldschmidt the Belleville News-Democrat Small-School (Class 1A-2A) Volleyball Player of the Year for the second year in a row.

“She really earned it,” Lazarides said of the captain’s job, which is awarded only after what amounts to job interviews the coach conducts with any player she is considering for the honor. “It was hard for me, but I knew I had to do something that get her past that ‘good’ wall and make her excellent. That’s exactly what happened.”

A four-year starter, Goldschmidt leaves Gibault as the school’s all-time kills leader with 1,072. She also compiled 1,011 digs, 96 service aces and 73 blocks. The younger sister of Southern Indiana libero and former Gibault standout Erin Goldschmidt will continue her playing and academic career at Division II Rockhurst in Kansas City. Mo.

Goldschmidt wasn’t sure what Lazarides was after at first as far as the captain’s job, but quickly solved the equation.

“She’s very personable so I felt like I could always talk to her about whatever I needed to,” Goldschmidt said. “She’s very on top of the mental part of the game and was always trying to figure out ways to motivate each individual person on the team.

“Part of that motivation was not letting me have the captain title my junior year because she wanted me to work that much harder.”

Goldschmidt responded in a big way, taking her game to a higher level.

“It really lit a fire under my butt because junior year was the one where I came from just being another member of the team to being the one the other players would look to,” said Goldschmidt, who is even pursuing a career in the same field as Lazarides, speech pathology.

MULTI-TASKING

Goldschmidt played only libero and defensive specialist on her Southwest Illinois Crush club team, but at Gibault played outside hitter and was one of the team’s most versatile performers. Lalzarides was looking for offense, defense, scoring and leadership from Goldschmidt and her talented senior delivered.

Goldschmidt’s digs this season (333) numbered almost as high as her kills (343).

“It gave me a lot more mental strength being at Gibault and playing all the way around,” Goldschmidt said. “Whether you have the title of captain or not, you can feel when your team looks to you. Junior year I wasn’t really used to it yet and throughout that year, my coach said she saw me transform not only as a physical player but also as a mentally tough player.

“I felt like I grew a lot.”

She also enjoyed being able to do a little bit of everything.

“It’s so much fun to do both (offense and defense),” Goldschmidt said. “It is a different mindset because you go from being prepared on defense and staying low, being ready for the ball, to doing anything you can to get a kill for your team.”

Don’t think Lazarides didn’t take full advantage of Goldschmidt’s superior defensive skills.

“Our senior libero was injured and I was serve receiving with two players,” Lazerides said of Goldschmidt and teammate Kelly Dooley. “We put Lauren in a lot of situations that the majority of players wouldn’t be able to be successful at. Her job was to cover literally half the court when the other team was serving.”

Ironically, the Crush produced both News-Democrat Volleyball Players of the Year since Goldschmidt is a Crush teammate with Large-School Player of the Year Megan Lindsay from Mascoutah.

Goldschmidt also credited her club team coach Kari Lane for bringing her to a higher level as a player.

EMOTIONAL ENDING

Gibault entered this season with high expectations after the Hawks reached the super-sectional in 2014. This playoff run was much shorter this season as the Hawks lost to Trico in the regional.

“I remember thinking last year far into the postseason that I needed to remember these moments because it may not happen when I want it to happen for my senior year,” Goldschmidt said. “I was right. You’ve got to remember that the stars have to align the way you want them too.”

Goldschmidt and fellow four-year starter Ashley Grohmann came in together and they hugged after the loss. Their careers included lots of wins and a lot of emotional highs and lows, but now the high-school portion of their careers had reached its end.

“We went to each other right away and told each other there was nothing else we could have done,” Goldschmidt said. “That was a good way to close out the season, knowing you didn’t have any regrets with how you played.”

Coach of the Year

Valmeyer coach Jenny Kohnz, whose teams have won 20 or more matches every year since she began coaching the Pirates in 2008, was voted BND Small-School Volleyball Coach of the Year by her peers. Valmeyer was 25-12 this season and reached the super-sectional, its best finish since finishing fourth at the 2012 Class 1A state tournament.

The Pirates have 98 wins over the last four years and return much of the talent from this season’s super-sectional qualifier. Kohnz has 325 career victories including a seven-year stint as head coach at Columbia.

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Gibault senior earns second straight BND Small-School Volleyball Player of the Year honor."