Russ Rose Then (1998): Laura came into the program with more potential than experience.  She’s still in that area of making progression to be able to do some things.  But there’s times where Laura comes in and blocks every ball in practice and she’s exceptional at that specific skill.  I think that she needs to get stronger.  I think young players sometimes just don’t understand the commitment that it takes to be an exceptional player.  A lot of them are happy to play, a lot of them are pretty good in their  geographical area, but when you’re at a certain level and you’re trying to attract the top players or the players that want to make the greatest contributions, it takes a little more time.  I think Laura has made some progress in areas and she still has a long way to go.  But being 6’5″, she puts up a very big block, and as long as she can get stronger, then she can hold that block up there longer, and be a little stonger.  When we get the confidence that Laura can go into games and block balls as she does in practice, then we’ll put her in games.

Russ Rose Now (2025): Laura made us a better team by putting up a big block every day in practice.

Before Penn State (2025): Three-time letter winner at Quince Orchard High School; also played co-ed volleyball for three years; chosen All-Met and All-County honors for girls volleyball, and honorable mention All-County for co-ed; received scholar-athlete award for workin classroom; as a team captain, she led her girls team to the county championship and the region finals; Montgomery Journal and Gaithersburg Gazette All-County.