Missouri State volleyball freshman Shanda Harper has earned MVC Freshman of the Week honors for the sixth time this season, it was announced by the league office Monday.

The rookie middle blocker also earned the award on Sep. 5, Oct. 9, Oct. 16, Oct. 30 and Nov. 6.

The Willard, Mo., native is the first freshman in league history to earn the award six times in a season. No other freshman has won more than four times. She is also just the third player in the 24-year history of MVC volleyball to earn six weekly honors of any kind during the course of her career.

Harper had her most efficient attacking weekend of the season, hitting at a .486 (24-6-37) clip to lead the Bears with 3.43 kills and 4.14 points per game in road victories against Creighton and Drake. She also averaged 1.43 blocks, 0.71 digs and had one assist in the two matches.

Harper led the Bears with 12 kills on 20 swings and turned in seven blocks in the 3-1 win at Creighton, and led all players with 12 more kills on .529 hitting the next night in MSU’s sweep at Drake.

The rookie has been honored five times in the last six weeks, a time period in which she has averaged 2.9 kills and 1.52 blocks per game with a .355 hitting efficiency over the course of 15 matches.

Harper and the 23-6 Bears close out the regular season at home this week with Indiana State on Friday and Illinois State on Saturday. First serve is set for 7 p.m. for both matches, and MSU will go for its 1,000th win in program history against Indiana State in a match that will be televised live on Mediacom Cable Channel 14 in the Springfield area.