Coming from a volleyball family, North Thurston libero Lauren Porter stands out from the back row

Much of what Lauren Porter means to the North Thurston High School volleyball team can’t be defined by statistics.

She’s an inspirational leader — along with senior outside hitter Elana Fairchild — as one of two players coach Jackie Meyer calls “the heart and soul of the team.”

Porter is the final chapter of an ongoing sister act, the third of Erin Porter’s three daughters to play for the Rams.

Sometimes, though, hard facts really do tell the story. Going into the 2017 season, the North Thurston career record for digs was 788. Porter broke that record as a sophomore, and now stands at 1,058 with a season-and-a-half left in her career.

The junior libero’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. She was co-defensive MVP of the Class 3A South Sound Conference in 2017 and a first-team Olympian All-Area pick.

“Balls that most teams would expect to be down on the court, Lauren and Elana will come out of nowhere and get them up,” said coach Jackie Meyer, who has guided the Rams to 3A state tournament appearances the last two seasons.

“They fly around the court. It’s never give up, 100 percent all the time. It’s those little things in a mental game that lifts your team.”

Porter’s oldest sister, Alex, graduated before she reached high school, but newspaper articles at the time mentioned the up-and-coming eighth grader’s talent. When she enrolled as a freshman at North Thurston, middle sister Jocelynn was a junior.

Having their footsteps to follow in was a mixed blessing for the youngest Porter, whose older brother Brian and younger brother Zach also play the sport.

“Lauren came in way above her peers in knowledge of the game. Her family’s been around volleyball so long,” Meyer said. “Having those two older sisters made her mentally tough. Plus, she was comfortable around the team at Thurston. She didn’t have a lot of nerves coming in.”

But Porter found herself relying on Jocelynn a little too much.

“I expected her to be the leader because she was the captain,” she said.

On the first day of tryouts last fall, Jocelynn went down with a season-ending knee injury and, as the saying goes, the ball was in Lauren’s court.

“I was put in the leadership role. It was a little rough for me. I’ve never been counted on by that many people,” she said. “This year I’ve embraced it because Jocelynn’s gone. It’s my new role.”

Said Meyer: “Lauren’s our quarterback. She controls the back row, tells our offense where to hit. There’s a lot of pressure on her. Last year, it was tough for her to be the leader of juniors and seniors. This year, we told her she couldn’t be timid anymore.”

Porter considers herself a leader by example.

“(Coach) Meyer was always telling me to push my teammates,” she said. “I’d say I didn’t know how to do that and she’d say ‘just play.’ If I’m getting a lot of digs, my teammates will say, ‘Oh, she’s really playing, we need to play too.’ They rally around that.”

With improved play from senior hitter Rokki Brown and sophomore Addie Robertson, along with depth along the front row that allows the Rams to attack from any angle, the offense has been effective as they head into the second half of league play.

They are tied with Peninsula for second place in the 3A SSC at 5-2, two games behind undefeated defending state champion Capital.

An abrupt position change two years ago provided a foundation for North Thurston both offensively and defensively. Meyer had been putting the libero’s jersey on the 5-foot-6 Fairchild while, at 5-3, Porter continued at her childhood position of outside hitter.

When the Rams traveled to a tournament in Auburn, Meyer switched the pair and never looked back.

“I liked hitting, but I’m really short,” Porter said. “I’d discovered I liked playing back row even when I was an outside hitter. Libero is back row all the time. I really love being the one person everyone relies on to get all those hard balls.”

Lauren may become the first of her siblings to play in college. Alex set aside the idea to focus on becoming a veterinarian. Jocelynn may yet play if her knee woes can be overcome. After playing a mental game for so many years, Lauren would like to become a sport psychologist down the road.

Meyer sees success in her libero’s future.

“She’s an incredible person,” she said. “I love coaching her, watching her grow as an athlete, teammate and a leader.”