October 5, 2017

By Dylan Edwards, SMUMustangs.com

A team is often defined by its senior leadership. Especially on a team like SMU volleyball that relies on contributions from some younger players, the seniors set the standard every day.

Seniors Katie Hegarty and Lauren Mills fill that role, and then some, for head coach Lisa Seifert's team. They've combined to play nearly 600 sets over their Mustang careers, and are at the heart of SMU's undefeated start to conference play.

After leading the team in kills and being selected first-team all-conference, Hegarty's senior season did not get off to the start she imagined. During practice before the season started, she began to feel some discomfort in her abdomen. After the opening weekend, that turned into a complete horizontal tear of the muscle.

"It was unknown (how long she would be out)," Seifert said. "I didn't know if she would come back at all."

The doctor gave a timetable of six to eight weeks to recover. It's easy to be a leader and be optimistic when everything is going well. Hegarty's character was shown by how she handled herself after learning that her final season was going to be disrupted with an injury.  

"When I told the team about the injury, I told them to bear with me," Hegarty said. "It was definitely a huge mental shift I had to go through. Being a senior and being a captain, I had to pour the energy I would have used to play into the team in a different way."

While essentially serving as an extra coach, Hegarty went the extra mile personally to try to expedite that timetable for her return.

"With a tear of this magnitude, the only thing to do was rest," Hegarty said. "Sitting when you're constantly trained to go is hard. I changed my diet to be anti-inflammatory. I did extra massage things. I did everything within my power, but it had to heal."

Her dedication to her recovery paid off faster than even a doctor expected. She shattered the optimistic recovery time prediction of six weeks, coming back after just four to play in the conference opener.

"We saw the doctor on the Monday before the Friday Tulane match," Seifert said. "The doctor was shocked at how well she was doing. Tuesday was footwork and throwing the ball. Wednesday was hitting the ball out of her hand to see how that felt. We did that progression, and there she was Friday night playing and getting 19 kills."

While Hegarty was trying to come back from injury, Lauren Mills was putting together the best season of her career. Mills has posted double-digit kills in 13 of the 15 matches this season and leads the league with 10 double-doubles.

"This is Lauren's best season overall," Seifert said. "It's not that she hasn't been a good player in the past, but she hasn't been as consistent. There's a sense of urgency. She knows it's her last go-around. She desperately wants to be on the award wall downstairs."

Mills has always had a strong work ethic and proved to be extremely coachable early on in her Mustang career.

"She's put a lot of time and effort into passing and serve receive," Seifert said. "When we sat down and talked to her about that being an element she needed to improve (after her freshman season), she came in every day and spent an extra 20 or 30 minutes on it. You can see the payoff of those repetitions and the work she put in."

Mills' digs per set is easily the highest of her career at 3.4, topping her total last season of 2.9. She's second on the team in digs and leading the team in kills, showing her versatility and just how valuable she is to the Mustangs.

Mills has had to deal with injuries throughout her career, including this season. She has a vertical fraying of her abdomen. While a little more common than the tear Hegarty experienced, it's still a pain she has to manage each day.

"Since my freshman year, I've had tears in my abdomen," Mills said. "With those type of injuries, you just have to play through it. It's about pain tolerance."

She's been playing through it at an incredibly high level. Through the first six weeks of the season, she's been awarded conference player of the week honors twice.

"Leadership wise, she's a vocal leader and a performance leader. She's a statistical leader," Seifert explanined. "She's doing it all."

Hegarty and Mills will be vital for the now full-strength Mustangs down the stretch as the team contends for its third consecutive conference title. Mills currently leads the team with 222 kills, while Hegarty is fourth with 96 despite missing a month of season.

"Having them both is great for us," Seifert said. "Lauren has been consistent. Katie has added to our point spread and our ability to close out matches and win. They're both leading in so many ways."