(Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky is playing in its 15th straight NCAA Tournament for coach Craig Skinner and has had 15 All-American players and 51 all-Southeastern Conference players during that time.
That’s why I was not quite sure where Skinner would say senior Leah Edmond ranks among the players he’s had. She is a two-time SEC Player of the Year and UK’s all-time kills leader with 1,961 going into Friday’s NCAA third-round match against Washington in Texas.
“It’s hard to argue that she is not at the top as much as she has accomplished and the amount of winning we have done and her contributions to the whole game, not just scoring points,” Skinner said. “Statistically she is at the top in kills and I would imagine points as well. Just phenomenal athlete and fearless competitor.”
Junior Gabby Curry, the SEC Libero of the Year the last two seasons, says Edmond might be the best female athlete on a campus filled with stars.
“Leah Edmond is a very good athlete, one of the best I have ever played with if not the best I have every played with,” Curry said. “I think her mental game is what makes her the best.”
Edmond has improved each of her four seasons at UK and Skinner says part of that is because of the demands on players to improve but a lot is because of Edmond’s mentality.
“She is a warrior. She doesn’t want anyone to show her up, so you have to get better for that to happen. Teams key on you when you get pretty good but that doesn’t intimidate her,” Skinner said.
Edmond is a lock to eventually be in the UK Athletics Hall of Fame and will leave a legacy that won’t soon be forgotten.
“I had high expectations for myself just to play well in general but I don’t think I ever thought it was going to go to this extreme,” she said. “Of course I had goals. I wanted to be an All-American one time or SEC Player of the Year. Things like that but I didn’t expect to grow where it has gone.”
She called it an “incredible honor” for Skinner to say she could be the best player he’s had because she knows the history of UK volleyball.
“That is really surprising for him to say that and really humbles me,” she said.
What does she hope her legacy will be?
“I know they are going to say something about kills because that is the one thing I have consistently done the last four years but just knowing that I fought and every time they saw me play I was fighting not only for myself but for my teammates and the university and the state of Kentucky is what I hope is remembered,” Edmond said.
“I think that is something I have been known for about how aggressive I look on the court and I have heard comments about it and that’s something that lights a fire inside me to be the person that people say she is going at it right now and she is not stopping until the game is over.”
Edmond cried before her final regular-season home match. She cried again Saturday when UK swept Michigan in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in her final home appearance.
“I got emotional which I didn’t need before the game. But I think it just made me want to play a little harder because I know it’s my last time ever doing anything like that on that court again. I was just really excited,” she said. “It was a bittersweet moment.”
She came back out for a final farewell salute with the fans after the win.
“Of course, I started crying again. It was a cool moment. To go back out there and wave and see all my family was really cool,” Edmond said.
Now she hopes to add the one piece missing — a Final Four — to a record-setting statistical career that includes three SEC championships and numerous individual honors.
“Getting to the Final Four and winning a national championship has been our goal,” she said. “This is my last chance to do it, so we’ll see but right now we are really playing well.”
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If UK beats Washington Friday, it likely will face host Baylor, the nation’s No. 1 team, on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four.
