When she transferred to Penn State after a three-year career at North Carolina, Taylor Leath was just 72 shy of 1,000 kills. On Saturday, the graduate student reached the milestone with her third putaway in Set 1 of the team’s match against American.
Leath posted 11 kills in the match, bumping her career tally to 1,008, en route to American Volleyball Classic all-tournament team honors. The Port Matilda, Pennsylvania native, also added eight digs and three blocks, while hitting at a .216 clip in the match. The double-digit putdown tally was her third in a Nittany Lion uniform (following 15 vs. Navy on Aug. 25 and 10 at Stanford on Sept. 7).
For the tournament, Leah managed 21 kills, 20 digs and eight blocks.
In 2018, Leath is averaged 2.58 kills per set, while hitting at a .220 clip and adding 2.16 digs per set (67 digs) and 0.77 blocks (24 blocks).
At North Carolina, Leath paced the Tar Heels with 3.17 kills per set (337 kills) as a junior, including 17 double-digit kill matches and six double-doubles, en route to AVCA All-East Coast Region Honorable Mention and All-ACC second team accolades.
As a redshirt sophomore, she was a second team AVCA All-America honoree and garner ACC Player of the Year nods after posting 374 kills, 299 dig, 70 blocks and 19 aces, while hitting .252. She notched 10 double-doubles and three 20-kill matches.
In her first action as a TarHeel in 2015, Leah managed 218 kills, 97 digs and 56 blocks, including eight double-digit kill tallies and one double-double.
Penn State is 9-1 heading into Big Ten play with its league opener set for Wednesday at Minnesota. The match will air live on Big Ten Network at 9 p.m. ET.
S1 | And with that kill, Taylor Leath has reached the elusive 1,000 kill mark for her career. The graduate student got 928 kills and her bachelor’s degree with @UNCVolleyball, and she has 72 kills and counting while working on her master’s degree at Penn State! #WeAre pic.twitter.com/JGiHdOTOcq
— Penn State Women’s Volleyball (@PennStateVBALL) September 15, 2018
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