Victoria Named HERO Sports Gem of the Week

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With more than 70 percent of the fan vote, junior Pilar Victoria has earned the HERO Sports Gem of the Week for her Sept. 23 performance at LSU. The Razorback standout captured 804 of the 1,143 total votes. As the Week Four winner of the season-long contest, Victoria will be part of the year-end fan vote for the HERO Sports Gem of the Year.

In the Razorbacks’ SEC opener, Victoria recorded career highs of 30 kills and 19 digs to pace Arkansas to the five-set road win at LSU. The Caguas, Puerto Rico, native is the seventh player in program history to have 30 kills in a match, the first to do so since the 2011 season. Victoria’s effort against the Tigers was her seventh double-double of the season. She became just the second Razorback in program history (Krystal Osborne) to record 30 kills in a road match.

Through the first 16 matches of her junior campaign, Victoria is 14th in the NCAA with 4.47 kills per set and 17th among the nation’s attackers with 4.99 points per set. She is second in the SEC in both categories. Along with her performance against LSU, Victoria has 20 or more kills in six matches this season including three in league play. In Arkansas’ last outing, she had 13 kills and 11 digs to complete her team-leading eighth double-double of the year.

The Razorbacks are 13-3 overall this season with a 3-1 mark in SEC play. In its recently completed run of seven-consecutive matches against teams that played in last year’s NCAA Tournament, the team posted a 5-2 record. Arkansas returns to the court Sunday, Oct. 11, with a road match at Tennessee. First serve of the SEC contest is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. (CT) in Knoxville. The match will also be streamed live on ESPN3 and through the WatchESPN app.

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