The 6-foot-2 outside hitter from Utah played in 14 matches for the Badgers in their title winning 2021 season.
As the Wisconsin Badgers closed down their spring camp at the beginning of the week, freshman outside hitter Lauren Jardine announced on Wednesday, when she posted the below to her Instagram Story, she entered the transfer portal. Dennis Punzel of the Wisconsin State Journal reported it on Monday night. The talented outside hitter from Utah played in 14 matches last season, posting 1.88 kills per set while hitting for .235 on the year.
The 6-foot-2 Jardine was the 2020-21 Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Utah and a Top 15 prospect in the country according to the PrepVolleyball Top 150.
Jardine showed in flashes last year, but also had some understandable inconsistency that you would expect out of a freshman. She posted a career-high in kills with 14 against Northern Illinois earlier in the season, but saw her playing time decrease as the season wore on.
Towards the tail end of the spring season, Jardine again showed off that she is a capable player, but the roster changes heading into this year could have been one reason she looked away.
With another highly touted freshman in Ella Wrobel coming in to the fold and an All-Conference outside hitter in Sarah Franklin transferring in from Michigan State, it seems like there may have been fewer playing time for the clearly talented Jardine. A potential landing spot is BYU, which is closer to home and where her older sister played volleyball from 2010-2013.
We wish her the best in her next move in her career, and she’ll always be a proud national champion at UW.