Rock Island Today

Want to know how competitive Lauren Goggin is? She finds back problems to be motivating.

While one wouldn't know it from her results this season, Augustana's No. 1 women's tennis singles player has been dealing with back issues. But Goggin, a senior, is tackling the challenge.

“Because I'm like, well, I can fight through this, it's going to be OK then, and I don't think it's really hindering me too much,” Goggin said in an interview with Rock Island Today.

The Buffalo Grove High School graduate recently hit a high point by reaching the round of 16 at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Region Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan. That led to her being named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 2-8, according to Athletics.Augustana.edu.

Those achievements further shined up an already-tremendous resume for Goggin as a Viking, including her appearances in the top-10 career-win totals in three categories at the school.

Goggin first played tennis when she was 4 years old, with her dad, John, encouraging her and her twin sister, Dana, to get into it. They combined as a doubles team at Buffalo Grove and won at least two matches at the state tournament in three-straight years there.

“I'm a very competitive person, and I think that kind of is an outlet for me,” Goggin said of playing tennis. “I like winning, I mean, like anyone else, but I just think I like being able to construct points together and mentally stay tough throughout the whole game. That's energizing for me, for sure.”

Augustana Head Coach Jon Miedema told Rock Island Today that he started recruiting the Goggin sisters late in their senior season. Miedema discussed the honors Lauren Goggin earned in doubles, being named Illinois High School Tennis Coaches Association second-team all-state in 2012, with an honorable mention in 2010, according to ihstca.org.

“To me, just knowing the competitive environment that is high school tennis in Illinois, that said a lot to me about the competitor she was,” Miedema said.

That success carried over to her career at Augustana. Going into this season, Goggin had earned three All-CCIW first-team honors, as well as two Player of the Week awards. As of Oct. 5, Goggin was second on Augustana's list for most career singles wins (78), sixth in career doubles wins (77) and third in total career wins (155).

Goggin said one area she's improved in at Augustana is going from being a defensive player to being more offensive.

“I would say it's been a pretty big jump from fresh year,” Goggin said. “I mean, my game has gone from a little more staying back to the baseline to putting away points and winning it for myself.”

Goggin said she would still like to improve her consistency with her serve a little more, execute what she wants to do, finishing points more effectively and continuing to be less defensive.

“I've done that better over the years, but there's definitely still improvement to be made,” Goggin said.