Senior libero Elena Martinez is hard-headed — at least according to LSU volleyball coach Fran Flory.”Sometimes you have to make players do things they don’t want to do for them to really see and understand how great they can be,” Flory said. “It’s just like children growing up. It’s tough love, and we went through some times of tough love.”But Flory doesn’t mind Martinez’s stubbornness.”I don’t ever want to break her spirit or make her different,” Flory said. “I’ve had many players in the past who didn’t let me push them far enough. They bailed, or they backed off. Elena never backed off, and that’s why she has such a great future still ahead of her.”Flory said she shares some qualities with Martinez.”We’re both hard-headed,” Flory said. “Elena wants to do things her way, and I want her to do things my way. The great part about my relationship with Elena is that we have been able to work through that.”Martinez’s determination has helped her move to No. 2 all-time on LSU’s career digs list with 1,383.She was named the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year for the second straight season Monday with 379 digs in 27 matches this season.But Martinez wasn’t always a defensive specialist.She was an outside hitter at Isidore Newman High School in New Orleans, earning District Most Valuable Player honors in 2003 and 2004 and the Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year award in 2003.”I tore my rotator cuff, and then I was kind of forced to decide what I wanted to do and re-evaluate where I wanted to be,” Martinez said. “I took on a new position as a libero of my club team. I actually really liked it.”Martinez said she switched to libero about six months before coming to LSU, and Flory said Martinez didn’t resist the change.”She kind of knew that she was going to be a libero if she wanted to play on a higher level,” Flory said. “It’s just a matter of she’s [5 foot 8], playing against 6-foot-4 kids. The 6-4 kid’s going to win.”Martinez didn’t play much her first two years at LSU — she played behind Kassi Mikulik, who finished with 1,357 career digs.”[Martinez] would’ve broken every record — shattered them — if she had played her freshman and sophomore year,” Flory said. “Those are the times that we were kind of working through our relationship.”Martinez said she was recruited by many local schools but also visited big schools like Florida.”I went to these schools, and I saw all of the great things they had to offer,” Martinez said. “Compared to LSU, they didn’t seem like anything.”Martinez said she wanted to stay close to home to keep in touch with her family.”I knew that coming here would give my parents an opportunity to see me play and my family an opportunity to see me play,” Martinez said.Martinez is finishing out a career in her home state that has earned her four straight SEC Western Division championships and four straight NCAA tournament berths.She doesn’t attribute her success to one single player.”Every single person I’ve played with brought something different to our program,” Martinez said. “I’ve had good friends and not-so-great friends. I’ve had the whole mixture of it, and honestly, they’ve all contributed to making me the type of player I am.”Flory said Martinez is a “once in a lifetime” type of player she may never coach again.—-Contact Robert Stewart at [email protected]