Edmond Motivated, Focused as Senior Season Approaches
Leah Edmond has accomplished nearly every individual goal that a player could accomplish in her three years with the Kentucky volleyball team. Yet, as she approaches her final season at UK, the senior from Lexington is not focused on individual goals or awards. She simply wants to take her program to levels it has never seen.
“I’m focusing more on the team goals,” Edmond said. “Individually, I did more than I thought I would, so that’s just an accomplishment in itself.”
No one could blame Edmond if she wanted to speak about her awards and accomplishments. She was the 2018 SEC Player of the Year, was named second team AVCA All-American and first team All-Southeast Region. She needs just 251 kills to become the school’s all-time leader in that category. And she has led the program to unprecedented success during her three-year career.
Yet when asked about goals for 2019, Edmond immediately shifted back to the team.
“To win another SEC Championship, a three-peat would be a really great way to end my career,” Edmond said. “And getting farther in the (NCAA) Tournament, that’s the thing we talk about every year. With this being my last year, I really want to make sure that we make that jump. Not just to the Elite 8, but on to the Final Four. That’s what this program needs and wants.”
Edmond is doing more than talking about these goals. She’s working hard to get there, something that UK head coach Craig Skinner has seen already this fall.
“I think Leah has been very driven, very focused this summer,” Skinner said. “The first few days of practice, she’s been all about trying to get better and effort and encouraging her teammates. Leah has already accomplished so many things individually there’s really no need to focus on that type of stuff, but she can focus on how she can help Kentucky volleyball be really good.”
The word focus came up more than once when Skinner talked about Edmond. The senior definitely seems locked in to her coaches and teammates.
“In the first couple of days of practice, she’s as focused as she’s ever been,” Skinner said. “This summer, with (strength and conditioning) Coach (John) Spurlock working out, he said this was the best summer she has had since she’s been at Kentucky. So, there’s no reason to think she’s not dialed in today to help us be the best we can be this year.”
Edmond’s individual accomplishments are made more amazing by the fact that she is always the focus of the opposition’s defense. Edmond doesn’t mind the attention from the other side of the net.
“I think the target makes me want to play even harder,” Edmond said. “It’s a challenge and it pushes me.”
Edmond’s teammates realize that they are playing with someone who will go down as one of the best players in program history.
“She’s amazing,” said fellow senior Caitlyn Cooper. “Being a really close friend to her and roommates with her, seeing her play is just unbelievable. It’s kind of crazy that I got to see on TV how she was a great player, and now I get to play with her, it’s amazing.”
Amazing is an appropriate word when describing the first three years of Edmond’s career. This season, Edmond would love to add more superlatives, especially of the team variety, to cap an amazing career as a Cat.
