LSU Freshman Jurnee Robinson came out to a blistering start in Game 1 of the season against UCLA and did not let up in Game 2 of the doubleheader. Her stat line for the weekend was impressive, with the talented Freshman notching an impressive 46 kills with a .319 hitting percentage. On the defensive side she had 16 digs and 5 blocks. This earned her the honor of SEC Freshman of the Week.
Jurnee took some time to discuss with me what it was like to win the award this week as she commented "At first I was just like, wow, like I can't believe I won it. I didn't know what it takes to win that. Obviously, it takes being consistent, knowing your worth . She added "it meant a lot to me because it finally shows all the work I put in."
Many have stated that Jurnee has always been one of, if not the best player on the court her entire career growing up and I asked the talented Freshman if she expected to have this kind of success right out the gate and she stated "Honestly, no, I was just kinda just expecting to l get a couple kills but like, I wasn't expecting to get like 20 each time I went out there, but I was just kind of going to go out there and give it everything you got." She added "what's the worst that can happen? You get blocked, like who cares about getting blocked as long as you get the kills to back it up."
A lot of times players aren't focused on individual stats or awards but I pointed out to Jurnee that after this first weekend, She is first in the SEC in kills, second in kills per set, third in the sec in points. She lead the team in points, kills, kills per set and second in hitting percentage and blocks, third in digs. I asked her where she feels she is in her progression and how much room she has for growth and she said "I am a perfectionist at what I do, which I am working on, but I think I have a lot to grow on because I'm just like, if I wouldn't have hit that ball out, either the ball would have kept going or I would have gotten like another kill. So like I feel like at my point of my career, I feel like I am a freshman still if that makes sense, like I'm in my freshman growth here. So I feel like I can grow 10 times better than I am right now." A thought that should put fear into SEC foes in the years to come.
Being that she was a freshman and going against an All Pac 12 and Team USA player in Anna Dodson, I asked her what the step up in competition was from High School . Robinson stated "she's not way older than me, but she is older than me. She has the experience and stuff like that. So I would say like coming from not a small town in South Carolina but just like a place where volleyball isn't the top sport there. Usually people go see football or basketball. So, like coming from there, where the experience isn't really there or the clubs just aren't. as prominent as it is like here, like in Atlanta, which is where I played. I would just say it's like a big, not turnaround but, it opened my eyes. I was like, wow, I have to turn on a different level now because I am playing against a 21 year old now instead of a 17 year old."
On what she is looking forward to after getting the first weekend out of the way having the Bluejay Invitational coming up. Jurnee commented "I'm looking forward to the team growth. We've been growing in practice ever since the UCLA games, ever since we went one on one, but just like the team grows adjusting during play because obviously, the scout isn't always gonna be 100% and volleyball isn't just black and white, there's different changes in everything you do. So just watching the team grow on and off the court, that would be really good for us and like seeing how other teams play, see how they connect. It will help us out in the long run."
Stay tuned for more from this talented freshman on the bayou as she is a star in the making.
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