Missouri State volleyball players Erin O’Connor and Shanda Harper swept this week’s Missouri Valley Conference individual awards, with O’Connor taking home Player of the Week honors and Harper earning Freshman of the Week recognition.

O’Connor earned MVP honors of the T.J. Sales/Dr. Mary Jo Wynn Invitational in Springfield over the weekend by leading the Bears to a 3-0 record in the event with sweeps of all three opponents. The senior led the team with 4.67 kills per game, doing so with a .354 attack percentage. She also chipped in 2.44 digs per game and contributed a pair of service aces.

In Friday’s match against UMKC, O’Connor recorded a double-double with 16 kills on 28 attempts against no errors to go along with 11 digs. She averaged 1.56 blocks per game for the week as well.

Harper continued the strong beginning to her Missouri State career this weekend by hitting a team-best .419 (33-7-62) and also topping the squad with 2.11 blocks per game in the team’s tournament title run.

Harper’s best match of the weekend came against Northwestern State, where she recorded a career-high 14 kills on just 20 attempts, also adding eight block assists.

The rookie hit at least .286 in each match with eight or more kills in each contest as well. Her 3.67 kills per game ranked only behind O’Connor.

The Bears return to the road this weekend for the Utah Classic in Salt Lake City. Missouri State plays Utah State at 10 a.m. and Temple at 5 p.m. on Friday, and takes on 24th-ranked Utah on Saturday at 3 p.m.