NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The longest match of the 2023 FIVB Under-21 World Championship was surely also one of the loudest. There were no medals on the line; the two teams were playing only for pride. But for a full five sets, the United States and tournament host Mexico traded points and momentum. The partisan crowd of several thousand fans in the northern city of León lent the event an atmosphere reminiscent of bigger stages—the sort of stage the high schoolers who made up the bulk of the American roster dreamed of playing on in the Olympics or the Final Four.
To Vanderbilt assistant coach Lauren Plum, who was coaching with that U.S. team, the din was music to a competitor’s ears as the Americans sweated out a 23-25, 25-21, 27-25, 24-26, 15-11 win.
“One of the best experiences you can have as an athlete is playing the home country, in their country, regardless of the level,” Plum said. “Those players are always going to show out for their country. We had no business going to five sets with Mexico, but they played out of their minds. They wouldn’t go away. Our girls are so much bigger, but the Mexican players are digging everything. Our girls were so frustrated, looking at us like, ‘What do we do?’”
Plum was particularly well equipped to answer. Just 12 years earlier, in front of an even bigger and no less boisterous home crowd in Lima, Peru, Plum was on the court for an American team that lost a five-set marathon against the host during the same biennial event. Though the result left it difficult to enjoy in the moment, she looks back fondly on her South American adventure. So, in León, she advised players to feed off the crowd’s energy, tune out any negativity and play their own brand of volleyball. Win or lose, they would remember the experience forever.
Only a few years removed from her own playing career, Plum’s opportunity to coach a U.S. team in a major international event represents a remarkably quick ascent in her new line of work. Her colleagues were head coach Tom Hogan, who helped lead the U.S. to a silver medal in the 2008 Olympics, and Stacy Sykora, a three-time Olympian and member of that 2008 team. Plum, by contrast, was in high school in 2008, still several years shy of All-America honors at the University of Oregon and a professional career in France, Germany and Puerto Rico.
In returning to the U21 World Championship, this time as a coach, Plum came full circle. But rather than a closed loop, her path…