LANCASTER, Pa. - The Atlantic East Conference announced the Women’s Volleyball weekly award winners on Tuesday as Centenary’s Poppy Skjonnemand and Marymount’s Natalie Bialecki earned Player and Specialty Player of the Week honors, respectively.
Player of the Week:
Name: Poppy Skjonnemand
School: Centenary (NJ)
Class: Sophomore
Position: Outside Hitter
Hometown: Southampton, U.K.
High School: West Morris Mendham
Brief Outlook of Week: Skjonnemand was dominant for the Cyclones over the weekend earning all-tournament honors in the Greyhound Premiere Tournament (hosted by Moravian). Over the weekend, the sophomore recorded 49.5 total points (3.81 PTS/S), after posting 47 kills (3.62 K/S), two assists, and one service ace.
Specialty Player of the Week:
Name: Natalie Bialecki
School: Marymount
Class: Senior
Position: Setter
Hometown: Toledo, Ohio
High School: Notre Dame Academy
Brief Outlook of Week: In the setter role, Natalie Bialecki showed out in the Saints' first weekend of competition. Averaging 7.94 assists per set, she tallied 127 total across the four matches alongside eight service aces.
Weekly Honor Roll:
Christina Lenzo (So., Setter, Immaculata): Lenzo had a combined 39 assists, with five service aces, and nine digs over three matches. She had 14 assists, with four service aces, and three digs in Friday's win over Penn State Brandywine. She had 11 assists, with one service ace, and one dig in Saturday's win over Valley Forge. She had 14 assists, and five digs vs Penn State Abington in Saturday's second match.
Ayanna Gaston (Jr., Setter, Gwynedd Mercy): Gaston finished opening weekend with 6.33 assists per set with 19 in the match against Arcadia. The setter also contributed five digs in the opening season loss.
Mia Esposito (Jr., Middle Hitter, Immaculata): Esposito had a combined 26 kills over three matches for Immaculata. She had 11 kills in Immaculata's 3-0 win over Penn State Brandywine on Friday. She had seven kills in their 3-0 win over Valley Forge, and eight kills in the Mighty Macs loss to Penn State Abington in Saturday's tri-match.
Julich Olivia (Sr., Outside Hitter, Pratt): Olivia Julich posted team-highs of six kills, nine digs and two blocks in Pratt's season-opening, three-set loss to USMMA.
Kate Etter (So., Outside Hitter/ D. Specialist, Gwynedd Mercy): Etter led the Red and Gold effort against Arcadia. The sophomore totaled 9.0 points with a team-high nine kills on a .240 hitting percentage (9K-3E-25TA).
Emily Genau (Jr., Opposite, Marymount): Junior Emily Genau led the offense for the Saints in the team's first slate of competition this past weekend. Notching 45 total kills across four matches, the opposite averaged 2.81 kills per set. In a five-set match against William Peace, she hit at a .333 clip en route to 19 kills, a season-high on the young year. She also added 42 digs for 2.63 a set.
Ryleigh Hart (Fy., Marywood): Hart led the Pacers with 17 points in their opening tri-match. She tallied 13 kills and five total blocks for a .179 attack percentage in her collegiate debut. In a five-set win over Delaware Valley, Hart tallied 10 kills with three blocks.