Seniors Lead Hogs to a Higher Level of Success
Head coach of the women’s Volleyball team, Robert Pulliza, talks about the team’s progress at the Olympic press conference on Dec. 4th. (Photo by Rebekah Harvey)
The 2012 season ended for the Arkansas volleyball team after a 3-2 loss to Wichita State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Razorbacks finished the season 22-10. This is the first season Arkansas has won 20 matches since 2005.
Roslandy Acosta and Jasmine Norton were named to the All-South Region First Team by the American Volleyball Coaches Association.
“Roslandy and Jasmine were a big reason why we had the kind of season we had,” head coach Robert Pulliza said.
Acosta averaged 3.15 kills per set with a .253 hitting percentage throughout the season. She posted double-digit kills in the last 15 matches of the season.
Norton averaged 3.65 kills per set and 3.04 digs per set. Norton posted 16 double-doubles this season and had at least 10 kills in 14 of the last 15 matches.
Acosta has made the decision to continue her career at the professional level in Puerto Rico.
“It’s one of the best league’s in the world to play professional at,” Pulliza said. “It worked out that she’s just going to be able to play down there and fulfill her dream.”
“I think the best is yet to be seen from Roslandy Acosta,” Pulliza added.
Acosta and Norton along with Amanada Anderson, Kasey Heckelman, Marci King and Janeliss Torres-Lopez make up a group of seniors that have helped return the Arkansas program to a level of success not seen since 2006, the last time the Hogs made the NCAA tournament.
“For them to close out their careers the way they did, it’s got to feel good for them to know that they left a mark not only as a team, but individually,” Pulliza said.
The three seniors that started and finished their careers at Arkansas, Anderson, Norton and Torres-Lopez, were Pulliza’s first recruiting class at Arkansas.
“It’s been a great ride,” Pulliza said of coaching this group. “This is a group of seniors that, the easiest way I can describe it is have rebuilt something from the ground. It’s a group that committed to making a change and doing it the right way.”
Pulliza said he told his team after they were selected for the NCAA tournament that their lives would be changed.
“They have immediately been empowered for the rest of their lives to understand that when you commit to doing something the right way and you work and you commit to people and to one another and to a dream, then you can do anything,” Pulliza said.
