Cati Leak Season 2024
Cati Leak has been an instrumental part in LSU’s rise and sustained success as a national power in college beach volleyball since joining Head Coach Russell Brock’s staff prior to the 2019 season. After helping build the foundation of LSU’s beach program as a player, she has continued to raise the standard in the sand as a coach.
Leak was named to the AVCA 30 Under 30 list in 2023.
LSU has reached the NCAA Championship tournament every year that Leak has been an assistant coach and the Tigers have won at least two matches in each appearance in Gulf Shores in that time.
In 2022 Leak helped coach a program-best five pairs to earn AVCA Top Flight honors as LSU secured the most regular season wins (27) and total wins (32) in program history. She was a key coach on the staff during LSU’s 2021 success in which LSU was never ranked lower than No. 4 in the AVCA Poll and saw Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth go 36-0 and claim AVCA National Pair of the Year. In 2020, LSU was ranked No. 1 in the country before the season was shortened due to Covid-19.
In her first season as an assistant coach in 2019 with the LSU Beach Volleyball Program, Cati Leak helped lead the Tigers to a program-record 31 victories and a No. 3 finish at the NCAA Championship.
Leak returned to LSU after helping to lead both the volleyball and women’s basketball teams as an assistant coach at the University Lab School in Baton Rouge to semi-final appearances at the state championships during the 2017-18 school year.
In the sand, Leak helped build the LSU program from the ground up, joining the team in its first year of existence in 2014. Over the course of four seasons, Leak improved her win total from eight in the first year to 26 in her final season. Her 73 victories stand as the seventh most in the young history of the program. In her final season in the sand, Leak helped lead the program to national prominence in 2017 as it earned its first birth to the NCAA Championship. Her and Callen Molle had 36 wins as a pair which is tied for the third most ever by an LSU duo.
A four-year starter in both indoor and beach volleyball for the Tigers, the Guntersville, Alabama native started on the court in 2012 and would help lead the Tigers to back-to-back NCAA Championship appearances in 2013 and 2014. She was named All-SEC following her junior season and finished her impressive indoor career with more than 1,000 digs and kills.
Leak will take on roles with recruiting along with developing training and practice plans. She will take on tasks at the administrative level as well, helping out with compliance, travel, equipment and academic oversight. Leak’s recent success in the sport of beach volleyball gives her a unique perspective in coaching and it will be a huge advantage for the Tigers.
A member of the 2013 SEC First Year Academic Honor Roll, Leak earned both her Bachelor’s (2016) and Master’s (2018) degrees from Louisiana State University.