Former University of Nebraska volleyball champion Lauren Stivrins took some time over the summer to relax and get some sun in Scottsdale, Arizona. Stivrins shared a picture of herself soaking up the sunshine in a red lace-up bikini, a dark sun hat protecting her face. "Super athlete to supermodel," an admiring fan commented. Here's what Stivrins has to say about playing professional volleyball and what she's been up to.

Stivrins went through intensive rehab after getting injured, and chose not to follow in the footsteps of other athletes by going overseas to play. "My body was fatigued. It had been a long season, and I was still doing my rehab," she says. "I really had a chance to finish that out, calm down and get my feet under me. Especially after such a big life change — graduating from college and packing up the last six years of my life — I wasn't ready to do all that over again in a foreign country."

Stivrins acted as captain for the Athletes Unlimited professional league, and was responsible for drafting a team. "Even though I am the youngest (player), it's nice to feel that my voice matters and people want to hear what I have to say," she says. "I think that there is something really special here, and I'm really glad that I decided to come out here… It's a player-led league. So if ever there's something that's bothering you, or whatever, everyone is so willing to help and everyone is so supportive here, and it's honestly such a breath of fresh air."

Stivrins signed with Italian club Il Bisonte Firenze in 2022, which turned out to be a great adventure. "Most of these people have played overseas and have either played there or played against them," she says. "Everyone has had really great things to say, and they said Florence was one of their favorite cities."

Stivrins loves to travel and blogs about her experiences. "Shanghai is one of the fastest growing and most modern cities in China. These were taken as we walked along Shanghai for the last time! We were able to shop around the older areas of Shanghai which were quite colorful and unique from any structures we would see in the U.S.," she captioned a post. 

Stivrins jokes about being spontaneous when it comes to travel and spending time with friends, judging by her social media posts. "Went to visit @kaylanier in Puerto Rico less than a week after she signed her contract. Are we spontaneous girlies or do we just have separation anxiety? I guess we'll never know," reads the tongue-in-cheek caption on an Instagram post.df44d9eab23ea271ddde7545ae2c09ec