Team Edmond dominates first week of AU; Edmond, Hentz, Linnehan, Hilley next captains

What was Leah Edmond’s reward for putting together the most dominant team statistically in Athletes Unlimited’s volleyball history?

She had to bid farewell to a crew that instantly clicked and hunker down to draft a new squad.

Team Edmond rewrote the record book in numerous categories during the opening week of AU’s third season. Most significantly, it recorded the most lopsided aggregate score over three sets when it steamrolled Team Nootsara 75-44 (25-14, 25-16, 25-14) on Monday night. The previous low  for points in a match had been 54.

Edmond and Co. went 3-0 during their matches on Friday, Sunday and Monday at Legacy Park in Mesa, Arizona, and rang up 400 out of a possible 440 “team points” awarded in AU’s non-traditional scoring system, dropping one of nine sets.

Team Edmond filled the top five positions on the first-week leaderboard and would wind up being the springboard for all of the players who qualified as the captains for Week 2:

Edmond, the former Kentucky standout outside hitter; outside Alli Linnehan, who as Alli Stumler led Kentucky to the spring 2021 NCAA title; Morgan Hentz, the libero who won three NCAA titles at Stanford; and setter Sydney Hilley, who guided Wisconsin to the 2021 NCAA championship.

Those four will draft their teams Tuesday.

Hentz, the 2022 AU defensive player of the year, capped a spectacular first week with 19 digs and four assists and was voted the most valuable player in Monday’s first match, worth 60 points. She is the first libero to earn the honor of leading and drafting a team. A member of the USA national-team program, Hentz set the AU match record for digs with 25 in Team Edmond’s victory over Team De Le Cruz (77-73 aggregate, 33-31, 19-25, 25-17) on Friday and totaled 57 during the first week.

Team Edmond’s first line of defense had made its mark on Sunday night, setting an AU match record with 18 blocks, four more than the previous standard, during its sweep of Team Valentin-Anderson (75-58 overall, 25-20, 26-19, 25-19). Middle hitter Danielle Hart (Hilley’s former Wisconsin teammate) and setter Hilley led the block party with five each. Hilley’s total set an AU record for a setter. Hart ranked fifth on the first-week leaderboard, falling 64 points short of becoming the first middle-blocker AU captain.

Not to be overlooked was the contribution of captain Edmond, who was voted one of…