BATON ROUGE — LSU volleyball senior libero Elena Martinez has been named the Southeastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week for a third time this season, the league office announced Monday.
Martinez collected 48 digs this weekend ? an average of 5.33 per set ? in leading the Tigers to two key division wins over Mississippi State and Alabama. That improved her season average to 4.52 per frame, the best average of any defender in the league.
Against the Bulldogs, the senior scooped up 20 digs, the third time of the season she picked up at least 20 and the 24th time in her career.
She followed that up with a second-straight 20-plus dig performance against Alabama, collecting a match-high 28. It was her second highest output of the year behind the 31 she notched against Texas A&M in the season-opener.
Those numbers also moved her up to sixth place all-time in career digs in the LSU record books as she now owns 1,174 for her career.
This is the third time she has been recognized by the league in 2008 and the fifth time overall for a weekly honor. Martinez also is the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year.
The Tigers return to action this weekend as they welcome Florida and South Carolina to the Maravich Center.