Former Wildcat Leah Edmond Captures 2023 Athletes Unlimited Volleyball Championship

Throughout her time at Kentucky, former Wildcat Leah Edmond set a plethora of program records, most notably when she became the all-time kills leader in the 25-point rally scoring era. But she added another accomplishment to her resume late Monday night, this time to her professional career, as she captured the 2023 Athletes Unlimited Volleyball Championship.

As the first professional volleyball league in the United States, Athletes Unlimited stands apart from “traditional” volleyball in that it is both a team and an individual sport. Forty-Four athletes from across the world traveled to Mesa, Arizona for a five-week season that began on October 6th and concluded on November 6th.

Each week, captains were determined based on where they finished on the leaderboard. The athletes ranked 1-4 atop the leaderboard at the end of each week of play were named captains and tasked with drafting a new team the following week. Throughout the matches, players earned points based off of individual stats, as well as set and match win points and MVP points.

A Season of Dominance

Edmond was named a captain in Week 1 where she promptly built a team that shattered several AU records. In their second match of the season her team, which also featured former Wildcat Alli Stumler Linnehan, set a new league record by recording a whopping 18 blocks.

But the former Cats weren’t done just yet. In their final match of the first weekend, they broke two more league records by posting the largest margin of victory in a match and allowing the fewest points ever scored in an AU game.

Edmond’s first weekend of play proved to be a tone-setter for the remaining four weeks, as she was the only athlete to be named a captain in all five weeks. She posted double-digit kills in all 15 matches this season and led the league with 224 terminations on a .300 hitting clip.

On Sunday, she became the third player in AU Volleyball history to record 2,000 stat points in a single season and eclipsed 500 career kills. Throughout the course of the season, she totaled more stat points than other athlete with 2,193 and was voted an MVP in 10 matches. She was also one of seven athletes to be named to the 2023 All-Position Team.

But capturing the championship wasn’t an easy feat. While this was her third season in the league, this was actually the first time Edmond has ever managed to compete in all 15 matches in a season. In her previous two years, illness and injury stifled any run at a title. Her goal this season was simple: finish.

But in doing so she managed to elevate her game to a level she hadn’t seen before. In large part because she was surrounded by incredible talent each and every week.

“I matured as a person,” Edmond said. “I think being in the professional world and being around all these ladies, I found who I am as a person and then that transferred over to the volleyball court and I was able to be my true self. I’ve learned so much from them and how to elevate my game and they’ve definitely pushed me to have to be better in things that I wasn’t before. So in every aspect, I’ve become better in everything.”

Wildcats Dueling it Out

Edmond wasn’t the only Wildcat competing for a championship, however. After their first weekend of play together, Alli Linnehan proved to be a worthy opponent for Edmond for the remainder of the season, as she herself was named a captain three times. And her captainship meant that she and Leah would no longer be teammates, but instead opponents standing across the net. Because of their stellar play, heading into the final weekend Leah sat at No. 1 on the leaderboard and Alli sat at No. 2.

The championship came down to the final day and the final match of the AU season, as Team Edmond and Team Linnehan battled it out in the AU finale to decide the champion. Team Edmond came out on top as they swept Team Linnehan 3-0 behind 16 kills and 16 digs from Edmond. Linnehan finished with nine kills and 13 digs.

She may have been unable to pass Edmond, but in her first season with AU Linnehan totaled 3,748 points, a performance good enough to see her capture the silver medal.

Edmond and Linnehan weren’t the only former Wildcats to compete in AU this season, however, as middle blocker Kaz Brown also made her debut with the league. Brown finished the season ranked 20th on the leaderboard but was a key starter on Edmond’s team for the final three weeks of play. Brown recorded the most blocks of any athlete this season with 54 rejections and totaled 6 kills, 2 digs, and a block in the final match of the season.

Athletes Unlimited has already announced that it will indeed continue with a fourth season of volleyball in 2024. Time and location of the league will be announced at a later date.