Lauren Van Orden begins her fourth season at Loyola in 2017. A former player at UCLA, Van Orden arrived in Rogers Park following a one-year stint at Colorado State, where she began her collegiate coaching career as a volunteer assistant coach in 2013.
"Lauren has an incredible volleyball resume and has been a part of some very good teams and cultures,” Loyola head coach Chris Muscat said. “Her knowledge base continues to stretch and challenge the ways in which we talk about and train the game. She is a perfect fit for where our program is going."
Van Orden came to Loyola after a one-year stint as a volunteer assistant coach at Colorado State, where she worked primarily with the team's setters for a team that finished with a 28-2 record in 2013.
In 2016, Van Orden was instrumental in helping Loyola to nine wins in Missouri Valley Conference play, its most since joining the league, and a berth in the MVC Tournament in 2016. Last fall, the Ramblers knocked off a pair of Power 5 conference foes, defeating Wake Forest to win the Demon Deacon Classic, and Mississippi State.
She helped develop four All-MVC honorees, including Morgan Reardon, who became the first player in program history to earn First Team All-MVC recognition. Gabi Maciagowski was lauded as a Second Team All-MVC pick, while Quinn Spieker and Delilah Wolf earned MVC All-Freshman Team recognition.
Off the court, the Ramblers experienced abundant success, with Reardon and Maddy Moser earning spots on the MVC Women’s Volleyball Scholar-Athlete Team, while Reardon was hailed as the State Farm MVC Good Neighbor Award recipient. As a team, Loyola also was honored by the NCAA with a Public Recognition Award for having an Academic Progress Rate (APR) score in the top 10 percent of its sport.
During her first year at Loyola in 2015, Van Orden helped Loyola to a 20-win season, its first since 2004. Under her tutelage, Reardon, Sami Hansen and Caroline Holt blossomed into Second Team All-MVC performers, while Reardon was also named Honorable Mention MVC Scholar-Athlete Team.
She began her coaching career after a successful playing career that extended past college. Van Orden played for VC Kanti in Switzerland before spending two months competing in Puerto Rico.
As a student-athlete, Van Orden spent her first two years at San Diego State before heading north to UCLA, where she made 61 starts in her two seasons in Westwood. Pulling the strings as the Bruins' setter, Van Orden guided the team to a 52-15 record during her tenure, capped with a 52-assist, 17-dig effort in a 3-1 win over Illinois that gave UCLA the 2011 national championship.
A native of Aurora, Colo., Van Orden was the Colorado Gatorade Player of the Year and a prep volleyball All-American at Grandview High School before embarking on her collegiate career.
