Daily Pilot College Athlete of the Month: Lauren Wilson, OCC’s

spike star

Tony Altobelli

When Orange Coast College women’s volleyball Coach Chuck Cutenese

heard that Lauren Wilson had enrolled at OCC, he sent out the cavalry to

try to make her a part of his program.

“I remembered her from Huntington Beach High and when I found out she

came back to this area and joined OCC, I sent the guards after her,”

Cutenese playfully said about the volleyball standout. “She is very

serious about her schooling and she didn’t know if she could juggle both

her schooling and play volleyball at the same time, so I tried to get as

many people as I could to convince her.”

So far, so good. The Pirates are 6-3 overall and the sophomore has led

the team in kills every match.

Wilson has 165 kills in just nine matches for OCC and with her

success, her love for volleyball has returned after an unpleasant tenure

at Cornell University.

“I was anti-volleyball for awhile when I got home,” Wilson said. “Our

coach at Cornell was let go for verbally abusing the players, the weather

was lousy, there were no beaches and I got very homesick. I needed to

come home and I have. I love playing at OCC. It’s been a real blast.”

According to Cutenese, Wilson is one of those special athletes who

just don’t come around too often. “She’s got the whole package,” he said

of Wilson. “She’s a tremendous athlete, she’s a tremendous student and

she’s a tremendous person. As far as volleyball goes, she’s one of the

best players I’ve had in my time here at Coast.”

Before her collegiate playing career got underway, Wilson helped guide

the Oilers to the CIF Southern Section and State titles as a junior in

1996.

“She’s got a ton of winning experience, which is a big factor,”

Cutenese said. “She’s a great leader for us, but it’s more of by example.

She’s not a rah-rah type of leader.”

According to Wilson, it’s the leadership side of her game that has

blossomed the most at Coast. “That’s what I’ve learned the most here is

how to be a leader,” she said. “This whole experience here has been fun

and very relaxing. It’s also great to have a supportive coach like we do

here.”

A club player since the eighth grade, Wilson took some time away from

volleyball after coming back from Cornell and realized how much she

missed it.

“I started to realize just how competitive I am,” she said. “I enjoy

the competition out there and I need that to keep me going.”

When Wilson isn’t out on the volleyball courts, you can find her in

the water surfing, water skiing, jet skiing, out in Arizona dove hunting.

“Our whole family goes out there every year when the season kicks

off,” Wilson proudly boasts. “I know it sounds cruel killing the bird of

peace, but it’s really fun. Plus they’re really good when you wrap them

in bacon, put a jalapeno pepper in their chest cavity and cook them up.

Yummy.”

Bloodshed aside, following this semester at OCC, Wilson will head down

to UC San Diego to continue her collegiate and athletic career, but

she’ll remember her experience at OCC fondly.

“I’ll come back and see them play next year,” Wilson said. “I’ll only

be here a short time, but it’s been a great time and OCC has been a major

part of it.”