Kasia Burda said she was devastated when she heard from her Parkland girls volleyball teammate and longtime friend Sarah Paugh that Paugh was out for the season with a broken foot.
“She actually came in and told all of us what happened,” Burda said. “I remember that practice. I started to cry. Me and Sarah played club volleyball together and we’ve been together at Parkland the last four years. I just wanted to have a great season with her. To hear she was out broke my heart. I cried that entire practice, and I think I cried for a whole week. She didn’t deserve that. She’s a great athlete, a great player, and a great person.”
Burda and Paugh were going to be the two seniors on the floor for a Parkland team looking to get back to the top of District 11 volleyball again after Liberty ended a streak of 10 consecutive D11 championships for the Trojans by beating them in a five-set thriller in 2024.
Her absence affected Burda the most because she became the only senior on the court for Parkland. It was one of the youngest teams veteran coach Mike Krause has ever had to guide through a difficult Eastern Pennsylvania Conference schedule featuring quality teams such as Bethlehem Catholic, Allentown Central Catholic, Emmaus, and others.
Burda had to take on a leadership role for the first time in her career.
“I was nervous because when I was a sophomore and junior, I always had someone to fall back on; a senior to look up to,” Burda said. “If I were struggling, someone else would be scoring and helping me. But when Sarah went down, I was really scared that I would have no one to fall back on. It was very hard in the beginning. I am not an evil person, and I don’t like screaming at people, but I had to learn to be tough. If I just tried to be nice and let everything slide, we wouldn’t have gotten as far as we did.”
Burda’s tough love and guidance helped the Trojans work their way through a 1-2 start. The team went on a 12-match win streak in which 10 of the wins came by three sets to none scores.
District 1 power Bishop Shanahan ended the win streak, and there was a late-season loss to Emmaus, followed by a setback to Emmaus in the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference semifinals.
But remembering the bitter defeat to Liberty in the district final the previous year, Parkland remained united and motivated. The Trojans beat Pocono Mountain East 3-0 and then won hard-fought five-set matches against Freedom and Emmaus to earn the storied program’s 14th district title, all since 2010.
Burda led the way and her leadership and skill during the postseason earned her the honor of becoming The Morning Call’s girls volleyball player of the year for the 2025 season.
“When Sarah got hurt before the season, it threw our offense into a lot of uncertainty,” said Krause, who has led the Parkland program since 2004 and posted a record of 442-74. “That put a lot of burden on Kasia. Once we got settled in with our offense, we took off. She was critical for us. She had to make the go-to plays, and she did. She made critical blocks and diversified her offense, and her blocking dictated what our defense could do.”
Burda only stood out physically, but also with her vocal leadership.
“She got the kids together and did a team-bonding thing in identifying stress and finding ways to free themselves of that stress,” Krause said. “She was able to communicate what we needed done. She would always encourage the players around her and keep them together. The kids looked up to her, and she also spoke about what she felt was best for the team and was a great conduit between the coaches and the players.”
Burda got better as the season progressed. After the Parkland Invitation tournament on Sept. 13, she hit .340 with 199 kills. Her kill percentage was 47.3%.
During the EPC and District 11 tournaments, she had 68 kills in 124 attempts for a 54.8% and a .379 hitting percentage. She also had 23 blocks, 4.6 blocks per match.
Her 75 blocks on the season were the fifth best in the state in the 4A classification. Her .310 hitting percentage was eighth best in Pennsylvania among 4A players.
She helped make up for the loss of Paugh, who Krause said would have been an all-league caliber player.
“All of the underclassmen stood up and made it so much easier for me,” she said. “It was hard, but it ended up being OK. I needed the underclassmen to respect me. It was a little uncomfortable for me to be telling them to go for the ball more or hit the floor on certain plays or put 100% effort it. I hated yelling at them. I only did it to make them better. We changed the lineup so many times that I don’t think we had a set lineup for any of the games early in the season, because when Sarah went down, we needed someone to step up and take her spot. We were trying different things at practice. We were mixing it up. People were playing positions they had never played before. Yet, no one complained. Everyone was there for the same goal. It was very cool as a senior to see how all of them wanted to play, and they wanted what was best for the team.”
No one was happier than Burda the night Parkland beat Emmaus for the district gold. She had 17 kills in that match.
“We were so hungry,” Burda said. “Everyone on the team wanted to win, especially because it’s Emmaus, and Parkland-Emmaus is the biggest rivalry around here.”
Burda didn’t always dream of winning district volleyball titles.
“I did cheerleading and dance when I was younger, and I was a cheerleader in seventh grade,” she said. “I always wanted to be a cheerleader. I have that type of personality. But two of my best friends were volleyball players and they wanted me to go to a volleyball camp so we could all be together. Just being here and meeting Coach Krause and his daughters for the first time was really inspiring. They put a different perspective on sports for me. Going into high school, I wanted to play more of a physical sport, something that I could be more proud of myself for doing. So, it was that camp that got me hooked, and now I love coaching at that same Red Crush camp.”
Burda is unsure whether she will play college volleyball. She has gotten some interest from Division III schools. She will visit Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, in January.
“Whatever school feels like home; that’s where I will go,” she said. “As for Parkland, the program will keep being great because of the coaching. They believed in me and also gave me tough love to make me better. I have learned that achievements don’t come easy. I have had to work very hard for these achievements. So if you want something, you have to go after it. You have to chase your dreams. Even though I’m sad that my senior season and my Parkland career are over, I’m just super happy that it happened.”
