Caraher will draw on experience as Division I player, club coach as she takes over Deer Lakes girls volleyball

By: Michael Love
Thursday, August 12, 2021 | 6:48 PM

Purchase Photo Options

Laurie Caraher is pumped for Monday’s start of preseason practices as the new coach of the Deer Lakes girls volleyball team.

A Chicago native and Pittsburgh resident for most of the past 28 years, Caraher said she hopes her extensive knowledge of the sport will help her bring out the best in her players.

“When I walked into the school for the first time, I felt this could be home for a long time,” said Caraher, who played in college at Tennessee.

Caraher takes over for Victor Morais, who stepped down about a month ago.

Morias, who coached the Lancers for just the 2020 season, now is an assistant with the men’s and women’s teams at Carlow.

Caraher became connected with Deer Lakes through her boyfriend, Bob Haggerty, an assistant with the Lancers baseball team who will help the girls volleyball team as a volunteer assistant.

When the coaching post came open this summer, Caraher said she jumped at the opportunity.

She said she learned a lot about Deer Lakes and the community while attending several baseball games in the spring.

“Sitting in the stands and hearing the parents cheering not just for their own children but for the others on the team, you could see and feel that camaraderie,” Caraher said.

“I was like, ‘What a great school.’

“When I met with the girls (Sunday), I had each one fill out a card about themselves, and I asked them what made them proud to be a Lancer. They all said it was a sense of community and everyone pulling together in good times and bad. That’s what I felt sitting in the stands.”

“I am glad they recognized that because that’s what made me really want to come here when the coaching position opened. We have a vision that we want to help make the girls into not just better (volleyball) athletes but better student-athletes and people with all of their other interests and activities.”

Junior middle hitter Kaylee Lipp said it is nice to have a new coach in place so the team can continue working toward the season.

Lipp said the players are used to getting to know a new coach so close to the start of the season as they did so with Morais last August.

“Everyone is pretty excited to carry on what we started last year,” Lipp said. “Coach (Caraher) has some really good ideas for the team.”

Deer Lakes captured the outright Section 5-AA title last season with an 11-1 record. The Lancers lost their section opener before rattling off 11 straight victories.

They lost 3-1 to Frazier in the WPIAL first round.

Lipp, a second-team all-section pick last year, returns to form the team core with fellow all-section selections: senior right side hitter Kelsey Sufak, junior setters Delanie Kaise and Jessica Sullivan and junior outside hitter Madison Friess.

Caraher said the team enters the fall season after a strong summer of open gyms, camps and on-court experience with area club teams.

One of 11 siblings, Caraher graduated in 1984 from national girls volleyball power Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School in Chicago.

As a setter, she helped the team win Illinois Class 4A state titles her sophomore and junior seasons and finish state runner-up as a senior.

She earned a scholarship to play at Tennessee. The Volunteers won the SEC title her freshman season.

Twice a team captain, she earned team MVP honors during her tenure and ranks seventh in program history in assists with 2,957 from 1984-87

She moved to western Pennsylvania in 1993 as a territory team sales representative for Wilson Sporting Goods and began to raise two sons and a daughter.

Life took her back to Chicago for a short time before coming back to the Pittsburgh region.

Caraher had a previous connection to WPIAL volleyball through her niece, Lauren Fanelli, a standout setter at Moon and 2007 graduate who went on to play at Colorado.

She said she is ready to draw on not only her playing experience in high school and college but her extensive work as a club volleyball coach, a volunteer assistant at Moon and as an instructor at high school and college summer camps.

Caraher said it will be important to be immersed in the program at all levels, including elementary and the middle school team in the spring.

“I am looking forward to seeing each girl on the court and where their skill sets can fit in to the lineup,” Caraher said. “As long as they come to practice with a positive attitude and work hard every day, the skill set will happen naturally where they can develop into the best players they can be. I encourage the players to see every day as an opportunity to be their best version of themselves.”

Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.

Tags: Deer Lakes