Lauren Degner never thought her tennis career would hit a major roadblock.
In September 2023 while doing running drills during volleyball season, her left knee gave out. At first, Degner thought it could have been a dislocated patella. Once she got further testing done at Southern Indiana Orthopedics, the MRI revealed not a dislocated patella but a torn ACL. It also meant she was going to miss out on her sophomore year of tennis.
Now a junior at Columbus East, Degner is back to full form. She picked up a couple victories last week and another Thursday at Greenwood and hopes to keep the momentum going when the postseason begins in 2 1/2 weeks.
“It was really hard (last year) because I wanted to be out there so badly. I had a great time freshman year, and I was really excited to come play again, and then I just couldn’t,” Degner said.
Degner did some rehab exercises before surgery to gain extra strength in her knee and help with her recovery following surgery. She had her surgery in early November 2023.
“I did mostly general stretching because so much range of motion will be lost that you needed as much as you can get before surgery,” Degner said. “During the time in the month in-between, I had rebuilt my strength back. I could go up the stairs normally, I could jog, I couldn’t run and stop or anything like that or anything that would require jarring, swift motions, but mostly, it was just trying to get strength and flexibility that I knew I would lose.”
Following the surgery, Degner was in an immobilizer for several weeks. The only small setback she had following surgery was that her knee was stiff where she couldn’t lift it on her own, but it was back to normal after five days.
Degner also used crutches to help her move. Her parents also helped her move around the house and getting upstairs. After a few weeks, she started physical therapy sessions up to three times a week to work out her knee and get her strength and range of motion back.
“You never realize how much your knees bend until you can’t do it anymore, or how much you really do need to be able to stop when playing a sport until you just can’t do it,” she said.
After a month, Degner was cleared to move without the use of crutches. She put in a lot of physical therapy work outside her normal rehab sessions. She did a lot of stretching every morning and night. She also went in the school’s nurses office during advisory period to do more stretching, weight-bearing exercises and turning her leg side to side, as well as front and back.
“Since my knee hadn’t been used for so long, my leg had also lost a lot of muscle, so I did some calf stretching and hamstring stretching and things that haven’t been used in a while because I didn’t want to injure something because my leg hadn’t been doing anything for so long,” Degner said.
In January of 2024, Degner was cleared to do upper body tennis work and did training sessions at Tipton Lakes Athletic Club. When the season started, she helped the team out by hitting balls and feeding balls to her teammates while still not cleared to play.
“As the season went on, while it was so hard to watch people play and not be able to, I did get to see the girls improve so much, which was kind of something you don’t notice when you’re playing because you’re so focused on yourself, but I thought it was really cool to see the growth,” Degner said.
Lauren Degner
Degner got cleared to play on the first day of the sectional last year. She didn’t play because she didn’t have quite the endurance, and her knee still wasn’t quite as strong as it was prior to the injury.
“I just didn’t want to overdo anything, and it was our last game of the season,” she said. “As much as I do love to play, I’d rather be out there for all the games next season than play one match, hurt myself again and be out for another eight months.”
Degner played tennis this past offseason. Even though she said she didn’t feel 100% initially, she felt like she had her stroke and her form back.
The one thing that took Degner some time to readjust back to normal was the mental aspect of tennis. It’s been a work in progress, but Degner feels she is almost back in shape mentally.
“So much time has passed that I forgot that you really need a good mindset, and you need to be able to focus on your game and let your mistakes go. You aren’t going to win every point,” she said. “As I’ve progressed through this season, I feel like I’ve been getting closer. At the start of the season, I don’t think I was where I was at the end of my freshman season. I think I’m getting there. It’s still mostly I feel like I’m back to form where I was on a physical level of tennis, but just the head space is something I have been working on.”
This season, Degner has given the Olympians a huge boost to the lineup. She picked up three wins at No. 1 singles in the past two weeks.
“Anytime you bring back a player that has a lot of experience on a team that doesn’t have a lot of experience, the girls look up to her, even as far as morale,” East coach Adam Ulrich said. “We had a couple of seniors last year that were good at leading, but having Lauren come back and is the same age as a lot of these girls, just her presence has brought morale up for a lot of girls. It’s something I can’t teach, and it’s a skill you can’t teach, so it’s been nice. It’s been good having her back.”
Degner is thrilled to be on the court again for a sport she’s loved playing for the last five years.
“Those eight months where I didn’t play any matches were really boring,” she said. “It’s just so fun to be out here. Even if you’re not playing in a match, and you’re just hitting with your friends, you forget how fun it is until you can’t do it anymore. I really enjoy being back out here.”
