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WHAT'S NEXT? STARTING AT THE TOP Lauren Carlini carries all the expectations that come along with being the nation's No. 1 recruit, but she learned long ago not to worry about what others expect D BY MIKE LUCAS • UWBADGERS.COM uring an early stage in her volleyball development, Wisconsin freshman Lauren Carlini, the 2012-13 Gatorade National Player of the Year, was told that she wasn't good enough. "My club coaches thought I was going to be one of those wash-out players,'' said Carlini, the No. 1 recruit/prospect in the country last season. "They told me that I was not good at all.'' Carlini was only about 13 when others made this assessment about her future in a sport that she began playing at the age of 5 on the urging of her mom, a former college volleyball player. "At that point, probably 13 or 14, I was still around (5-foot-6) or 5-7 and it didn't look like I was going to grow anymore,'' she said. "So they didn't know what position I was going to play.'' However, she did concede, "I wasn't really that great at anything in particular.'' Some young athletes might have been discouraged enough to quit; not Carlini. "I've always loved the game, so it was easy to stay with it,'' she said. "So I kept working at it.'' Moreover, she derived special incentive from people telling her that she couldn't do something. "Definitely,'' she said. "I feel like everyone at that age is a little lost and they don't really know what they're going to do with their life. But I didn't do anything else (but play volleyball). "That's all I knew at that age, so to hear that I might not be able to play in college or I might not be able to go past the club level was definitely disappointing. "I did use that as a motivation to keep getting better and prove people wrong.'' A growth spurt in her mid-teens spelled the difference. "I was about 5-7 when I was 14,'' she recalled, "and then after my eighth-grade year, I just spurted up to about 5-10 or 5-11. After that, everything fell into place somewhat. "I actually realized what my position was on the court and what my role would be.'' Carlini is a 6-foot-2 setter and the most highlytouted recruit in Wisconsin volleyball history. She verbally committed to the Badgers when she was a freshman at West Aurora (Ill.) High School. "It was close to home and just the perfect fit for me, I didn't even (officially) visit before I committed there,'' said Carlini, who attended a UW sum-