Go-go-gadget arms: it’s what the Creighton volleyball players call Korie Lebeda’s amazing ability to make a play on a ball that no other player could hope to get.
“Korie always seems to be able to reach those balls that are just out of reach,” her teammate, junior middle blocker Jessica Houts, said. “It seems like [her arms] just extend to where the ball is no matter how far away it is.”
Lebeda, the 5-foot-8-inch senior setter for the Bluejays, has been making those plays for four years while quarterbacking her team to unprecedented success.
“Korie is a phenomenal athlete,” coach Kirsten Bernthal Booth said. “She’s so athletic she makes plays most others can’t make.”
Since her freshman year, Lebeda has started in a school-record 112 matches, 70 of which were wins. In that time, she has recorded 5,004 career assists, which puts her in eighth all-time in the Missouri Valley Conference. She was also a two-time first-team all-MVC pick as well as a pick for the MVC all-freshman team in 2005.
On defense, she leads the team with 11 solo blocks, a statistic that may be surprising given that many hitters she goes up against are over 6 feet tall. “God gave her the ability to jump high,” Booth said. “Her set up and form in blocking have improved this year.”
Lebeda started playing volleyball when she was in second grade. She learned the basic skills from her older sisters.
“My two older sisters both played in grade school and on club teams, so naturally I wanted to follow in what they did,” she said.
At Marian High School in Omaha, Lebeda set the season mark for assists and was one of 12 finalists for the Andi Collins Award, which is given to the top senior setter in the nation.
Lebeda won the starting spot for the Bluejays as a freshman and has held the position ever since.
“I can remember being very nervous, but of course not wanting to show it, my freshman year, and I feel like each year afterward I grew more and more confident in myself and my abilities,” she said.
Some of her favorite memories at Creighton come from big wins over high profile opponents. “Of course, beating Nebraska the first game at the Qwest the year they were National Champs, but also beating Northern Iowa for the first time ever in their former home court [the West Gym],” she said.
A setter, who calls offensive plays on the court, must always be a leader, but Lebeda has embraced that role even more now that she is in her final season.
“I quickly realized that being a leader must come naturally, so I don’t try to be something I’m not,” she said. “I think that my leadership comes from giving it my all at each practice and game, to show the team how much this season, our goals and each of my teammates means to me.”
Booth thinks Lebeda’s calming style of leadership is a good match for a setter.
“Korie’s not a volatile leader,” she said. “She leads by building relationships and earning trust. She leads a lot by example, though she has become more vocal.”
Those leadership skills are reflected in her personality.
“Korie is a very easy person to talk to, and I think everyone on the team knows that if they ever need to talk to someone that she will be there and will listen and offer advice or whatever that person may need,” Houts said.
Lebeda’s absence will certainly be noticed next year. Creighton currently has two setters, Megan Bober and Emily Crowley, training to take Lebeda’s place.
“Korie will leave big shoes to fill, but I’m confident in whoever comes in,” Booth said.
Meanwhile, it is Lebeda and her fellow seniors’ last chance to achieve their postseason goals of winning the MVC championship and advancing to the NCAA tournament.
“There’s an urgency for the seniors,” Booth said. “They want to have no regrets, to put everything on the table. They want to do all the little things to be successful, and that’s good leadership.”
Lebeda seconds that belief.
“I believe that if I take care of myself on and off the court, and continue to work hard, it will help contribute to the team’s success this season,” she said.