Russ Rose Then (1999): “I think if Lauren can pick up where she left off last year in the title match against Long Beach State, then she’s going to be ear-marked as the top offensive player in the country. She’s a great back-row attacker. What I think our needs are going to be this year is that until we come up with some other go-to-players offensively, Lauren is going to have to carry the load in a situation where the other team knows that Lauren is going to be carrying the load It’s going to be a real challenge for her and hopefully, she can handle it physically because we may need for her to hit more balls this year than she’s hit in any other two years combined.”
Russ Rose Now (2025): “Lauren was a great contributor, to the program and to the team, the minute she arrived. She was a former diver, and I just think that gave her spatial orientation and kinesthetic awareness that benefited her greatly in volleyball. She would go literally weeks at a time in practice without a hitting error because her vision was so good, her decision making was so good, and she was so quick and athletic. Lauren was on the court all the time because our best attack back in that era was Lauren hitting out of the back row and then our second best was probably Lauren hitting out of the front row. She was a terrific player and well deserving of the many accolades that she received in high school and college, including co-MVP of the 1998 National Championship, along with Long Beach State’s Misty May, the Most Outstanding Player of the 1999 National Championship and the 1999 co-AVCA National Player of the Year with Kerri Walsh.”
1999 Season (Senior) Highlights and Awards: 1999 National Champion … Honda Volleyball Award Winner … NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player … co-AVCA National Player of the Year with Kerri Walsh … AVCA All-American … Academic All-American … Academic All-Big Ten … Big Ten Female Athlete of the Year … Big Ten Player of the Year … All-Big Ten First Team 1999 Oswald Award … finished her career having played in 141 matches and 461 sets … totaled 1750 career kills with a .391 career hitting percentage … recorded 53 service aces in her career … had 672 career digs and 767 career blocks.
Season Recap: Played in all 37 matches and 124 of 125 sets … led the team with 4.73 kills/set on .396 hitting (tops among starters) … ranked 2nd on the team with 27 service aces … led the team with 1.58 blocks/set … was 3rd on the team with 1.94 digs/set.
NCAA Tournament: In the National Semifinal match against Pacific, Cacciamani had 26 kills, 6 blocks and a .304 attack percentage … Pacific was led by Elsa Stegemann who had a match high 31 kills … in the National Championship match, she had 20 kills and hit .344 and helped hold Stanford to a negative .008 hitting percentage (39 kills, 40 errors) while Penn State hit .240 (48 kills, 19 errors).
Cacciamani on her Penn State career: “If I had the opportunity to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. My experience at Penn State is something I will remember and treasure for the rest of my life, not because of athletic victories or accomplishments, but because of the impact that the experience had on my entire life. I didn’t just become a better volleyball player, I became a better person as a result of my relationships with my teammates, the coaching staff, the university administration, and the entire Penn State community.”
Before Penn State: A three-year starter at middle hitter for Paramus High School, Cacciamani collected first-team all-league and all-county honors three straight years (1993-1995); as team captain her senior year (1995), she led the Spartans to their second-consecutive Group 3 league and state titles; also led Paramus to a county championshiop in 1995; garnered third-team All-America honors her senior year; she also lettered in track and field as a high jumper; a valuable contributor for the Digs Volleyball Club team, Cacciamani was named a two-year captain; also tabbed a Volleyball Magazine “Fab 50” pick her senior season and selected as a member of the US Youth National Team in 1995; Gatorade selected her as a 1996 regional Circle of Champions honoree; also competed as part of the U.S. team in the 1995 All-American match against California.
“Cacciamani returns to Penn State to be honored,” The Daily Collegian, Nov. 20, 2000
“Cacciamani, Bremner unlikely pair,” The Daily Collegian, Nov. 23, 1999
“Turning Heads,” The Daily Collegian, September 4, 1999
“Setting it all up,” The Daily Collegian, July 29, 1999
“Exceeding expectations,” The Daily Collegian, Sept. 24, 1998