Augustana College Athletics

In June of 2016, Mark Lau was introduced as the first head coach in the history of varsity men’s volleyball at Augustana. Lau’s Vikings made their debut in 2018, finishing 11-16 overall and 4-5 in the Midwest Collegiate Volleyball League and making steady progress throughout the program's inaugural campaign. On three occasions, Augustana defeated teams to whom it had lost earlier in the year, including a victory over seventh-ranked Benedictine. The Vikings won four of their last five matches and narrowly missed qualifying for the MCVL Tournament.
 
Lau, who attended Augustana from 1995-97 and played club volleyball, returned to Rock Island after two seasons (2015 & 2016) as the head coach at Graceland University in Lamoni, Iowa. In 2016, he led the Yellowjackets to a 25-8 record and a number four ranking in the final NAIA regular season poll. He was a men’s assistant at Graceland in 2013-14 and served as an assistant on the women’s side from the 2013 through 2015 seasons.
 
During his two years at Augustana, Lau earned first team All-America recognition in helping the club team to a second-place national finish at the NIRSA Division II Championships. He transferred to Ball State in 1998, where he competed at the varsity level, finishing third in the nation in blocking average in 1999 and earning all-conference recognition in 2000. He finished his career ranked in the school’s career top five in blocking average. He also played professionally in Germany, helping FC Schuttorf 09 to a third-place national finish in 2001.
 
Lau graduated from Ball State in 2000 with a B.S. in sports administration and a minor in business. He obtained his master’s in management from the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. He is a 1995 graduate of Maine West High School in Des Plaines, Illinois.
 
While at Graceland, Lau coached two conference Liberos of the Year, two All-America and six all-conference selections, as well as 12 NAIA Scholar-Athlete honorees.
 
Prior to his time at Graceland, Lau served as a women’s assistant coach at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana (2012-13) and as a men’s volunteer assistant at Lewis University in Romeoville, Illinois (2011-12), who went to the NCAA Division I Final Four.
 
Lau also has over a decade of coaching experience at the club level, as well as a stint as the girls varsity coach at Lake Park High School in Lake Park, Illinois from 2001-02.
 
In his free time, Mark enjoys watching movies, reading and spending times with his family. He is married to the former Tracey Machala, an Augustana letter winner in women’s swimming and the couple has four children: Skyla, Sola, Selah and Revel.