Four years ago Lauren Heliger was leading the Berks Christian School’s girls’ volleyball team to a solid season. She had an amazing high school volleyball career at Berks Christian School and she has carried that over to her college career.
This year she’s beginning her senior season on the Lancaster Bible College womnen’s volleyball team. She has broken several records already while playing for the Chargers and is poised to break a few more this year.
After two solids seasons her first two years, Heliger took it to a new level last year when she set a new school record with 469 digs. She also had 369 kills which is the second highest total in school history.
‘Honestly, I don’t feel like it (her volleyball career at LBC) could’ve gone any better,’ said Heliger. ‘I have beeb blessed with awesome teammates and a great coach who has really developed me into a versatile player.’
When asked about her school digs record, Lauren didn’t even know she set the record.
‘So no, I really don’t remember when I broke it, but it means a lot,’ she said. ‘The record basically means to me that I finally was playing defense the way I was taught. I stayed on my toes and anticipated every hit before it happened.’
After the 2011 season, Heliger earned All-NEAC first team honors, and was then named to the Women’s Basketball All-NEAC first team. She was the first NEAC athlete to be named to two separate NEAC first teams.
‘It’s an honor,’ said Heliger. ‘I’m truly blessed to be able to play sports and I love them both (volleyball and basketball). I’m also extremely blessed that I excel in both. They are two different sports that are my passions.’
Lauren started playing volleyball when she was in sixth grade. She fell in love with the sport right from the start.
‘It’s just a fun sport,’ she said. ‘I like how quick it is and how much of a team sport it is. I also just love the scrappiness of it as well. It’s a great sport.’
Heliger joined the LBC team in 2009 and made an immediate impact in her freshman year. She started all of the team’s 32 matches
and was named to the NCCAA East Region second team with more than 200 kills and 200 digs in the season. Apparently, the transition from high school to college volleyball wasn’t too difficult for her.
‘I wouldn’t say it was necessarily difficult, just different,’ she said. ‘The fact that I played with the same people for about six years made it tough to play with a new team, but I adjusted quickly. The college game is also faster, but honestly I enjoy a much faster paced game.’
In her sophomore season Lauren again played in all of her team’s matches (40 of them) and recorded a team-high 462 digs and was third on the team in kills with 311.
She earned a spot on the NCAA All-Independent second team and the NCCAA East Region second team.
Heading into her senior season Heliger was just 119 kills away from the 1,000 milestone mark. She knocked 12 off that total on Sept. 19 when she led her team to a 3-0 victory over Baptist Bible College. It was the first time in 16 years LBC beat that team.
Heliger’s favorite memory of her time in the LBC volleyball team was competing in the NCCAA National Championships in her sophomore year in Florida.
‘We were a small team of only nine players, not to mention our average height was around 5’5′, so we weren’t supposed to be there, but we made it and it was a blast,’ she said.
Lauren is a physical education major at LBC and hopes to get involved in a profession that allows her to remain in athletics. She’s not sure it will be teaching, coaching or personal training. She just wants to be around sports in some capacity.
