Graduate Laura Paniagua is in her third season as a libero and defensive specialist on the volleyball team at EIU.
Paniagua’s volleyball journey started on the Dominican Republic junior national team. From there, she made her way to Monroe College, a junior college in New York where she played two seasons. She then took the first college offer she got and made her way to Charleston to join the Panthers.
She has helped lead this team to an 8-6 record, a record that is just one win shy of the team’s 9-19 record from the 2024 season.
In this Q&A, Paniagua gives insight on the volleyball team this year, shares her faith, tells us her volleyball story, and gives us a few fun facts about herself.
Q: How are you feeling about the season so far?
A: “I feel like the team is still accommodating to each other. We did have a good preseason, but the season just started and coming back from this past weekend, it didn’t really go our way. I feel like we need to work a little bit more, it was just an eye opener for everyone’s good, everyone’s coming for us, so we gotta put in extra work and just double it up.”
Q: What do you think you guys need to work on?
A: “I would say just how we manage ourselves on the court, sometimes things don’t start going our way, how we expected them to go, and then everyone’s just gonna go individualize to themselves. And everyone’s just keeping to themselves instead of staying together more as a team.”
Q: Does anything this season feel different from last year?
A: “We got a lot of new players, and that’s always different. The coaching staff is really different too, and I feel like there’s a lot of positivity around overall. Even when we’re not doing our best, the coach always says ‘I have good news and bad news. The bad news is we know we’re not doing our best, but the good news is we know we can definitely do better. I feel like it’s always just encouraging from them, coming from last year I would say sometimes it would be a lot of pressure to perform and inconsistency with the team, like not knowing who’s going in, who’s not going in. It was like everyday was just something different. I feel like this coaching staff has brought us more consistency and more structure.”
Q: What is your pregame routine?
A: “I have this little book that is the New Testament, I read it before. I try to read a Psalm and just listen to worship music, and before the game when we’re on the lines, I have to pray. When they sing the national anthem, I just gotta pray. But, no superstitions, or anything, I try not to have them.”
Q: Did you play any other sports growing up?
A: “No, I wish I would have done gymnastics, but I couldn’t. Volleyball takes a lot of time back home, so if you do something you just gotta stick to it. With the time I was putting into volleyball, it was just not enough for another sport.”
Q: What age did you start playing volleyball?
A: “My sister was overweight, she had a thyroid disease, so she had to start doing sports. Then my mom didn’t want to leave me home so they just put me there. They literally just threw me in there. And then things started going well and I just kept playing and she decided that she didn’t want to keep playing. Volleyball started going well so we just kept it going.”
Q: When did you know you wanted to play college volleyball?
A: “So I played in the national team back home, and our players keep playing until they can’t, until their body can’t. The best libero, my favorite player, is still playing in the national team. So then I was growing up playing in the under 18, under 21. Then when I got up to under 21 I was like, well there’s no way I’m gonna go to the older team because she’s still playing. So I had to find another way to still keep playing and get my study in, so I just decided to come here and play.”
Q: Do you prefer traditional volleyball or beach volleyball?
A: “ I would say traditional, but when it’s so nice out with good weather, I would prefer beach volleyball.”
Q: Who is an unsung hero on this team?
A: “ I would say Thomas [Erdey], our trainer, because he’s just always there. He has everything, he has gum, he always got some cough drops, aquaphor, hair ties, even feminine products, he has everything on his kit and he’s always keeping it for whatever you think we will need. Whatever you think you will need he has it and he’s just always there making jokes around or being just supported overall.”
Q: What is your favorite jersey combo?
A: “ Black jersey, blue spandex.”
Q: How was the transition from the Dominican Republic to the states?
A: “So different. I did come from a city, and then I transferred into New York so that wasn’t as bad. But then when I came to Charleston it was just really different. It was like ‘Oh I’m in the USA, actually the midwest.’ Because in New York there’s just so many Hispanic people, so it’s just like home. I would say it was kind of a culture shock the way people live here. Like even how you show up to class, people don’t say anything to the professors, or you just walk in with pj pants and sandals. I’m not saying it’s bad, I’m just saying it’s different, you know? Over there, if I walk into a place I gotta say hi no matter if I don’t know you, like ‘hey how you doin,’. That’s just how I grew up. If I didn’t say anything, my mom would be like ‘come on, behave.’ I would say people here just live however they wanna live.”
Q: How has the transition been to Charleston?
A: “Charleston kind of grew on me, I feel like God put me here to serve him. Because this is where I actually connected with him. We had a relationship but not an intimate relationship with actually getting to know him. So I feel like being here by myself, without family and anything, he was like ‘I gotta isolate you to perfect you. The church and FCA, has just made it so much better.”
Q: What was it like playing in New York?
A: “It was good, it was fun, I had a lot of family around. It was just urban universities, it was mixed with the city, and you would just have so much stuff to do. My coach was Puerto Rican, he would coach me in spanish and yell at me a lot but that was good, it was just great. I like the team too, it made it way better being closer to family.”
Q: Did you prefer the environment in New York?
A: “Yeah, before, but now Charleston is my home.”
Q: Why did you decide to play at EIU?
A: “Well, I got an offer here, a full scholarship, so I was like I’m gonna just come. This was even my first offer, and I took it. God works in mysterious ways.”
Q: What is your favorite part about EIU?
A: “The campus is really pretty. But FCA has my heart, all the way.”
Q: How are you involved in FCA?
A: “I get to serve and be a part of the leaders of it.”
Q: What is your goal as an FCA leader?
A: “I would say having my fellow athletes, my friends, also know how their identity is not based on their sport and how they perform. Yeah everyone wants to win, everyone wants to have good numbers, but this is all temporary. What happens after you get injured, or what happens after you’re done here. Your worth is not on how you perform, and that is something that I wish I had known at least three years ago, struggling with mental health. We have so much platform as athletes, and so many followers, or just kids that look up to us. If we get the opportunity to use it for a greater purpose than just exalting ourselves, instead of exalting ourselves, exalt God. It will be revolutionary because we get so much attention, just by playing, not playing, you’re still on the team like ‘oh my God, she plays volleyball’, but ‘oh my God, she serves God.’ And just anytime, any chance we get, just to spread the good news.”
Q: What is your favorite scripture?
A: “2 Samuel 22:31. It says God’s way is perfect, and he keeps under his refuge those who seek him.”
Q: South Quad dining hall or Stevenson dining hall?
A: “I’ve never been to South Quad. Stevo I guess. When I first moved in here, I went straight to off campus, so I would always cook my food. Stevo, they give it to us for preseason, and it’s alright.”
Q: What is your favorite memory from playing volleyball?
A: “Winning the championship in 2023, with the team here. That year we won the regular season, and we got to host. It was Thanksgiving break, there were a lot of people here that showed up, and it was just great. It was such a quick win too.”
Q: Do you have any hobbies?
A: “Reading and cooking.”
Q: If you had a time machine, where would you go and why?
A: “ I would come back to Jesus’ time, to walk with Him and His disciples. I’m not gonna lie they got kinda lucky to be during that time, they got to see the miracles and all that. You know how hard it is sometimes to just walk by faith and not by sight. So I would say, just go back to anywhere during those three years of Jesus’ ministry.
Q: If you had to survive on an island for 6 months, which one of your teammates would you want with you?
A: “Catalina [Rochaix], I feel like she knows a lot of stuff, and she’s also my best friend, and I feel like we will figure something out. We will make it work.”
Q: Are there any athletes you look up to?
A: “I like Brenda Castillo, she’s just great. The vibe that she brings into the court, and just how much she picks up on the court. Then I would say here, I look up to Sydney [James Desroches], my friend, she plays basketball. The way that she manages herself, being a Christian athlete, is great. It is really different, how we usually should be acting, instead of just walking through it like, oh I’m a Christian but I don’t show it on the court. So I would say, yeah, that’s my two.”
Q: What is the hardest part about being a student athlete?
A:“The school work. Having to come after a trip and then ‘oh I have so many assignments to do.’ You know how easy it is preseason when you’re just practicing? We are practicing a lot, but at the same time, you don’t have to worry about school at all. But being a student goes first.”
Q: Who motivates you?
A: My parents and my mentor.
Q: How do they motivate you?
A: “My dad will always say, things will get better, keep trusting. My mom is just always reassuring me, like, God has a good plan for us. My mentor too, on the spiritual side, he’s always like, ‘you’re here for a reason, just make the best out of it.’”
Q: What is your favorite holiday?
A: “Christmas.”
Q: Crunchy or Chewy cookies?
A: “Chewy, because I feel like crunchy doesn’t have as much flavor as chewy. You get to chew it and get the flavor out. And crunchy is all the little crumbs, they’re messy.”
Q: Knowing everything you know now, what would you tell your 10-year-old self?
A: “I would say you’re living for a greater purpose than what you think. Whatever you think you’re going through, that is hard at that point, just find the ways to be grateful for what is surrounding you during that time”
Aaron Coffin can be reached at 581-2812 or at arcoffin@eiu.edu.
