With 40 kills, 42.5 points and 25 digs in nine sets during Big Ten play last week, it’s no surprise that women’s volleyball senior outside hitter Mari Hole was named Big Ten Player of the Week and Sports Imports/AVCA Division I National Player of the Week.
Both honors are firsts for the Oslo, Norway, native this season, but this marks the second time in her career she has won the Big Ten player of the Week award.
Hole said she was hoping to receive the award again but was surprised to receive both awards in the same week.
“I didn’t see any of them coming, I know I had been doing good a few weekends in a row now,” Hole said. “It is nice to be recognized for that but at the same time, I know I wouldn’t have gotten either without my team.”
Hole led the Buckeyes to two Big Ten victories last week, defeating Northwestern Wednesday and Illinois Saturday.
The senior outside hitter led the team in points scored in both games , and she attributed her scoring to working on different shots.
“I have learned to get comfortable with using a lot of different shots and in this league, you need to have a lot of different shots to be successful,” Hole said. “We have worked a lot on it during the season.”
Hole had 21 kills against Illinois, making it the seventh time this season she had 20 or more kills in a match.
“What has helped me get that many kills is the fact that I tend to swing very aggressively on a lot of different balls,” Hole said.
Hole is ranked fourth in the league for number of kills per set with 4.13 and fourth in the league for points with 4.60 per set.
The Buckeyes will continue Big Ten play this weekend against Purdue and Indiana, and Hole said she knows they can win if they remember what they have worked on.
“We worked on a lot of stuff this week, on what we want to do better for this upcoming week, so I hope we pull through on that,” Hole said. “I know we are a strong enough team to get the win, we need to keep working and improving.”
Hole and the No. 15 Buckeyes are scheduled to travel to West Lafayette, Ind., Friday to battle Purdue at 7 p.m., and to Bloomington, Ind. to play Indiana on Saturday at 7 p.m.