Norton earns fifth Freshman of the Week

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – After a career-best performance against No. 19 LSU, Jasmine Norton was named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week when league honors were announced Monday. Against the Tigers, Norton had a career-high 29 kills and tied her career mark with 17 digs. She also had four service aces and six total blocks, also tying a career best.

The honor is Norton’s fifth of the season, the most by an SEC player since the inception of the award in 2005. The reigning SEC Freshman of the Week, this is the second time this season she has won back-to-back weekly awards."It’s fun to watch Jasmine attacking the ball," head coach Robert Pulliza said. "What’s really exciting for me, especially down the stretch, is she’s putting up really big defensive numbers and that’s something we talked about early on when she first got here. Her defense is going to help her become a great player and it’s going to help this team become a better team. She has taken that challenge and really worked on, and improved, her defensive game. It’s exciting for me to see the type of all-around player she is becoming."Norton posted a .386 hitting percentage (29-7-57) against LSU, committing just four errors over the final four sets of the match. The 29 kills are the most by an SEC player this season. Norton’s mark is tied for the ninth-best single-match performance in program history. In two matches against LSU this season, Norton has 45 total kills with a .378 hitting percentage.Her 29-kill performance is her eighth match this season with 20 or more kills, and 11th consecutive match with double-digit kills. With her effort against LSU, she upped her double-double total to nine, seven of those coming in the past 11 matches. Norton now has the top-two attacking performances in an SEC match this season, to go along with her 25-kill performance at South Carolina (Oct. 25)."One of the things she is figuring out is one match is just like the other, regardless of who is across the net," Pulliza said. "She’s done a good job of preparing herself for each match the same way and not paying attention to who the opponent is. Her mentality of one match, one opportunity is helping her play her best."For the week, she averaged 5.80 kills per set, 3.40 digs per set, 1.20 blocks per set and 7.40 points pet set. Norton is averaging 4.02 kills per set, 2.07 digs per set and 4.64 points per set this season. She is now second in the conference in kills, and leads all players with 4.46 kills per SEC match.After a three-match homestand, the Razorbacks take to the road for a pair of weekend matches at Mississippi State and Alabama. Both matches will be broadcast on KXUA 88.3 FM in Fayetteville, and Sunday’s contest with the Crimson Tide will be televised by Fox Sports South at 1 p.m. (CT). For more information, log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

Download: Week 11-POW.pdf