Athlete of the Week is an ongoing weekly series.

At a university where nearly every athletic program is nationally relevant, there’s never a shortage of options. There are always electric playmakers to be found.

The Reveille Athlete of the Week is LSU volleyball’s Jurnee Robinson.

After losing to Georgia last weekend, LSU volleyball needed a win, and sophomore outside hitter Jurnee Robinson was the key to carrying her team to a 3-1 win against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Greatness isn’t new to Robinson. During her starting season with the Tigers she was named the AVCA South Freshman of the Year, which made her the third player in program history to earn this title. 

While earning that title she also earned a spot on the 2023-2024 First-Year SEC Academic Honor Roll, balancing her life between academics and athletics.

She finished her freshman season with 391 kills and is well on her way to topping it with 343 kills so far this year.

Ranked No. 4 in the NCAA in kills per set, Robinson entered the match against Alabama with her regular sense of confidence.

“I’m always confident before every single game,” Robinson said. She tells herself to step onto the court and try to kill it every single time, even when that means recovering from a loss.

And killed it she did, although it took a while for her to get in the right mindset with only seven kills in the first set.

“She started the match a little bit slow,” head coach Tonya Johnson said. “But then she figured out a way to get out her hole, and she was exceptional midway through the match to the end.”

After Alabama won the first set of Sunday’s match, LSU needed to turn things around, and Robinson leaned on the support of both her coaches and her teammates to do so.

“‘Don’t try to force anything,’” Robinson said her coaches told her. “Sometimes when we’re losing, we try to push, and push and push, and sometimes we just don’t need to.”

She concluded the match with 21 kills and 26 points for the Tigers. 

Robinson set her career high against Maryland earlier this season, with a total of 28 kills in one match. Robinson met that record once more against FIU.

Robinson has grown greatly throughout the season. The Mauldin High School (S.C.) alumna has been encouraging herself to grow with the same key word mentioned earlier: confidence. 

“Having the same confidence even when I have a bad game,” Robinson said. “That, and reminding myself of who I am, that’s what helps me.”