Leanna Ludes joined the Portland State volleyball program in July 2019, and will enter her second year on the Viking coaching staff for the 2020 season.
Ludes helped guide a young group in 2019, when the Vikings had seven freshman and eight newcomers on their 12-player roster. A former setter, Ludes oversaw the development of then-freshman Caroline Dragani, who was the top-ranked freshman in the Big Sky with 7.91 assists per set. Dragani finished the season with eight double-doubles, including three 50-assist matches. No Viking freshman had recorded more than 50 assists in over 10 years before Dragani.
Additionally, freshman libero Ellie Snook set the single-season program record for digs per set with 5.47 in 2019, and finished the season as the top-ranked freshman in the nation in the category. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Jordan White also led the Big Sky Conference with 1.33 blocks per set before going down with an injury.
Snook was named to the All-Big Sky second team at the end of the 2019 season, making her the first Viking freshman to earn All-Big Sky first- or second-team honors since PSU Hall of Famer Garyn Schlatter in 2010.
Ludes competed for the University of San Francisco in indoor volleyball from 2009-12, and played one year of beach volleyball in 2013. As a coach, Ludes has served as a head coach for the Momentum volleyball club in Colorado since 2016, following a stint as a graduate assistant coach for LIU Brooklyn in 2015.
As a player, Ludes started for the USF Dons as a senior, when she ranked third in the West Coast Conference with 10.13 assists per set. Ludes was named a WCC honorable mention All-Academic honoree that season, while the USF athletic department chose her as the Four Pillars Award Winner, given to a male and female senior student-athlete who attains the highest standards of athletic performance, academic achievement, community service and leadership.
Ludes transitioned into an administrative role within the USF athletic department for the next two years, before continuing her education and beginning her collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at LIU Brooklyn in 2015. Ludes helped lead LIU Brooklyn to a Northeast Conference regular-season title that season behind a 12-2 conference record.
Ludes moved on to Momentum volleyball club in Colorado in October 2016, where she has served as a head coach for the club’s 14-17-year-old players for the past three years. Ludes led her team to a second-place finish in the 14s Division of the Rocky Mountain Region while at Momentum, and her team qualified for nationals with a first-place finish in a regional qualifier.
Ludes also served as a coach for the SF Juniors and Slainte club teams when she was in the Bay Area. As a club player, Ludes played two seasons under Seemann while at Nike NW Juniors where she set for 2016 U.S. Olympian Kim Hill.
