Leah Edmond’s precedence via four-fifths of the Athletes Limitless volleyball season was to run a clear race. Now that the ultimate lap is right here, her focus has shifted to crossing the end line in first place as the ultimate spherical of matches begins Friday.
Within the hunt throughout AU’s earlier two campaigns, Edmond has put herself within the catbird’s seat to take dwelling the factors championship, the grand prize in a league that’s finest described as a person competitors inside a crew framework.
Making incremental yearly jumps within the standings, the charismatic former Kentucky All-American has moved up from fifteenth within the inaugural 2021 season to sixth in 2022, and stands atop the 2023 leaderboard with 3,406 factors heading into the ultimate three matches. She is the one athlete to sit down within the crew captain’s chair for all 5 weeks.
Edmond holds a 265-point benefit over Alli Linnehan, because of a consistency that has seen her end first, eighth, third and second within the weekly factors chase, whereas her former Kentucky teammate has gone second, thirty ninth, first and first.
Over the past day of the fourth-week round-robin, Linnehan had leapfrogged to No. 1 after the primary of the 2 matches, offering Leah with ample incentive within the nightcap. Staff Edmond took two of the three units and the mixture, choosing up 140 very important “win factors” to go 2-1 on the week.
“You strive to not hold the leaderboard on the forefront of your thoughts, however with how the league works, it’s exhausting to not know that it’s there and act prefer it’s invisible,” Edmond advised us. “Behind my head, I knew that Alli had handed me and I knew the place I needed to be ending out the week. However it was extra (in Monday’s match) that I needed to play the most effective sport I might and I felt the previous couple video games, I hadn’t performed as cleanly as I might have. That impacts the leaderboard while you’re not enjoying clear (since errors carry heavy level penalties).
“Sure, I needed to get again to No. 1. I knew I needed to play a very, actually good sport and my crew wanted to win with a view to try this. Profitable units and profitable matches is large. My first 12 months enjoying in AU, I had a ton of ‘stat factors,’ however I wasn’t profitable. My stat factors type of held me up there, however after some time, it wasn’t sufficient.
“Final 12 months, I had somewhat higher completely satisfied medium, I had extra (factors) in wins than I had in stats. This 12 months, I lastly evened it out. Plenty of wins, numerous stat factors and it has all come collectively.
“The wins play an enormous half and never letting opponents sweep is the large, massive factor. It’s important to no less than get one set, as a result of letting them rating all 180 factors is detrimental not solely to you, however to everyone else within the league.”
AU leaders via 4 weeks
Leah Edmond, 3,406 factors
Alli Linnehan, 3,141
Morgan Hentz, 2,919
Brooke Nuneviller, 2,643
Bethania De La Cruz, 2,541
Edmond’s leaderboard breakdown reveals 1,280 win factors (within the prime 79% of AU’s 44-player roster), 1,826 stat factors (No. 1 in that class by a margin of 323) and 300 “MVP factors” (additionally No. 1). In 2022, her win-to-stats ratio was 1,600 to 1,197 and in 2021, it was 960 to 1,380. Her explosive proper arm has been a significant point-scoring issue, with a league-high 183 kills (a median of 5.08 per set) and a gaudy (for an OH at this stage) .309 hitting share via 12 matches.
Athletes Limitless’s season-ending round-robin will probably be contested Friday, Sunday and Monday at Legacy Park in Mesa, Arizona. 4 matches will probably be streamed on ESPN+, and the nightcaps on Sunday and Monday will air on cable ESPNU. The Week 5 captains are Edmond, Linnehan, Morgan Hentz and first-timer Brooke Nuneviller. Notice that the match occasions on Sunday and Monday are an hour later than what they’d been within the first 4 weeks. The total schedule is under:
Week 5 schedule
Friday, November 3
Staff Hentz vs. Staff Linnehan, 7 p.m., ESPN+
Staff Edmond vs. Staff Nuneviller, 9:30 p.m., ESPN+
Sunday, November 5
Staff Nuneviller vs. Staff Linnehan, 8 p.m., ESPN+
Staff Hentz vs. Staff Edmond, 10:30 p.m., ESPNU
Monday, November 6
Staff Nuneviller vs. Staff Hentz, 8 p.m., ESPN+
Staff Linnehan vs. Staff Edmond, 10:30 p.m., ESPNU
All occasions Jap
(The rosters for every crew will be discovered on the finish of the story)
Picks with a objective
The captaincy offered Edmond with the chance to execute a plan within the last draft that fills her with confidence.
“I’ve six of the seven starters from final week again on my crew once more,” Leah mentioned. “My massive objective within the draft was to maintain that crew collectively. The Friday and Sunday matches (final week) we struggled somewhat bit, weren’t enjoying to our full potential, however on Monday I noticed all the issues that I had identified that we have been able to doing, to play that clear and execute so nicely.
“Ending the week on a excessive word after which getting everyone however one of many middles again, going into this week (that) will make every part a lot smoother. You realize precisely what everyone desires, you understand their tendencies, what we have to do to win video games, so I’m actually trying ahead to it.”
If familiarity breeds success, Edmond’s crew figures to have an edge. Leah made the identical “wraparound” picks within the draft’s “snake” format within the first and second rounds (fourth and fifth total) as she had in Week 4, snapping up setter Natalia Valentin-Anderson and out of doors hitter Lindsey Vander Weide. In Rounds 3 and 4 (twelfth and thirteenth total), Edmond tabbed reverse Genesis Collazo and center hitter Kaz Brown. Within the fifth and sixth (twentieth and twenty first total), her decisions have been center Karis Watson and feisty libero Kendall White.
Valentin-Anderson was Edmond’s setter in Weeks 3 and 4, Collazo her reverse in Weeks 1, 2 and 4, and Brown considered one of her middles within the earlier two weeks. Watson was the one decide amongst Leah’s first six who hadn’t performed together with her but.
Puerto Rican mighty mite Valentin-Anderson, the factors runner-up in 2022, has loved one other extremely productive AU season, excelling not solely in working her groups’ assaults however on protection. She is tied for fourth within the league with 121 digs (10.1 per match), which incorporates 5 double-digit efforts, and at 5-foot-6, has picked up no less than one solo block in eight of 12 matches. Natalia additionally has been one of the efficient servers with 11 aces, tied for second total.
The 6-foot-4 Brown, one other embellished collegian out of Kentucky, has flourished throughout her tenure with Staff Edmond. In three Week 4 matches, Brown totaled 11 blocks and 6 block assists, whereas hitting at .442 effectivity (22-for-43 with three errors).
“Kaz has been improbable and he or she’s gotten progressively higher each single sport,” Edmond mentioned. “This would be the third week I’ve had her and we will simply see how significantly better it’s getting. It’s so useful (in fine-tuning the connection) to have a center with the identical setter for such a very long time.”
A Bluegrass bond
The Kentucky connection she shares with Linnehan, her closest pursuer on the AU leaderboard, shouldn’t be misplaced on Edmond, who grew up in Lexington. Linnehan’s hometown of Floyds Knobs, Indiana, is correct throughout the Ohio River from Louisville.
“It’s super-exciting,” Edmond mentioned of getting stars with Bluegrass roots sitting first and second in knowledgeable volleyball league in America that may be seen on nationwide cable TV (ESPNU). “I hadn’t watched Alli play since her senior 12 months as a result of she went abroad for somewhat bit, so simply seeing how a lot she has grown as a participant and as an individual has been a lot enjoyable. Understanding that probably we will be 1-2 (in AU) is a large storyline this week in Kentucky.
“It has been a lot enjoyable to be round her and to play together with her once more, it introduced me again to Kentucky occasions. It places a stamp on how nicely we actually do complement one another in our enjoying types and who we’re as folks. I do know her each little motion and her tendencies, so it’s enjoyable to see her attempt to beat me round that, and the identical for her understanding what my go-to pictures are.
“Throughout our sport (this previous week), I used to be like, ‘Are you able to hit a ball please? Simply hit one. I’m bored with choosing up your pictures. I’d like to dig a tough ball.’ And he or she was like, ‘By no means!’ So it’s been enjoyable, particularly once we are mic’d up (for TV) and it’s Kentucky vs. Kentucky. However I’m not going to blow you up, Alli, I promise. I cannot goal to your head.”
Incomes a captain’s position for the second time in her rookie season, Linnehan (who was Stumler when Kentucky gained the spring 2021 NCAA title) drafted a veteran crew that features crack center Molly McCage (No. 8 on the leaderboard), wily setter Nootsara Tomkom and dynamic lefty reverse Willow Johnson. The entire capturing match for the factors championship fairly probably will come right down to the season’s final gasp between Staff Edmond and Staff Linnehan within the nightcap on Monday, televised on ESPNU.
The opposite highlights of the ultimate draft on Tuesday got here when rookie sensation Nuneviller grabbed famous person Bethania De La Cruz with the No. 1 decide. That left rookie Claire Chaussee, who had been the primary total selection three weeks working, for Hentz to snap up at No. 2. Brooke additionally obtained an distinctive setter in Sydney Hilley (a captain in Weeks 2, 3 and 4) and productive center Jenna Rosenthal. Hentz opted to not take a setter till the fifth spherical (18th total) and her selection was Taylor Bruns Tegenrot, who had not been chosen sooner than twenty fifth.