LANCASTER, Pa. - The Atlantic East Conference announced the Women’s Volleyball weekly award winners on Monday as Gwynedd Mercy’s Bria Purnell and Neumann’s Dani Smith earned Player and Specialty Player of the Week honors, respectively.

Player of the Week:
Name: Bria Purnell
School: Gwynedd Mercy
Class: Fifth-Year
Position: Outside Hitter
Hometown: Reading, Pa.
High School: Berks Catholic
Brief Outlook of Week: Purnell totaled 49.0 points (43 Kills, 4 aces, a solo block, and two block assists) and reached 100 career aces in a 2-1 week for Gwynedd Mercy University that included wins over Cedar Crest College (W, 3-1; 25-21, 25-16, 19-25, 25-20) and Penn State Brandywine (W, 3-1; 25-6, 24-26, 25-20, 25-16). She opened the week with 18 kills, an ace, a solo block, a block assist, and seven digs in the win over the Falcons. In the weekend tri-match, she reached her service milestone with her second ace versus the Nittany Lions; she finished that match with 13 kills, two assists, three aces, a block assist, and 11 digs.

Specialty Player of the Week:
Name: Dani Smith
School: Neumann
Class: Senior
Position: Setter
Hometown: Morinville, Alberta
High School: Morinville Community
Brief Outlook of Week: Dani Smith handed out 135 assists  (9.64/set) and tallied 55 digs in a 1-2 week for the Knights. In a 5-set loss at Wilkes, the senior had 46 assists and 17 digs. In a 5-set win against Rutgers-Camden, Smith dished out 55 assists and 23 digs. She followed with 34 assists and 15 digs in a 4-set loss to Arcadia.

Weekly Honor Roll:
Julia Soloman  (Fy., Neumann): Julia Solomon notched 49 kills (3.5) kills in a 1-2 week for Neumann. In a 5-set loss at Wilkes, the first year finished with 15 kills. She followed with 18 digs in a 5-set win over Rutgers-Camden and finished the week with 16 kills in a 4-set loss to Arcadia.
 
Colleen Russell  (So.,Pratt): Colleen Russell was the top point scorer for the Cannoneers' three-match week averaging 2.0 kills per set with .36 blocks. The sophomore put away eight kills apiece in both ends of Pratt's tri-match with Baruch and New Jersey City. Defensively she also reach double-digit digs twice against Sarah Lawrence and Baruch.
 
Dinah Stabinski (Sr., Immaculata): Dinah Stabinski had 10 digs in Immaculata's match vs Ursinus College on September 24th.
 
Ayanna Gaston (Jr., Gwynedd Mercy): Gaston fueled Gwynedd Mercy University to a 2-1 week with 98 assists, five kills, seven aces, a solo block, two block assists, and 25 digs. She recorded 38 assists in both Griffin wins; versus Cedar Crest College (W, 3-1; 25-21, 25-16, 19-25, 25-20) she paired them with two kills, two block assists, and nine digs, while against Penn State Brandywine (W, 3-1; 25-6, 24-26, 25-20, 25-16) she matched them with three kills, a season-high six aces, a solo block, and 10 digs.
 
Ava Humphries  (So., Marymount): Earning All-Tournament Team at the Worthington Classic, hosted by Gallaudet, Ava Humphries dug out 55 digs across the Saints' four matches. She added four assists to her credit at the Classic.
 
Previous Weekly Award Winners:
(9/2) - Player of the Week: Poppy Skjonnemand, Centenary; Specialty Player of the Week: Natalie Bialecki, Marymount
(9/9) - Player of the Week: Kate Etter, Gwynedd Mercy; Specialty Player of the Week: Ayanna Gaston, Gwynedd Mercy
(9/16) – Player of the Week: Melissa Eddy, Neumann; Specialty Player of the Week: Dani Smith, Neumann
(9/23) – Player of the Week: Harper Wolf, Marymount; Specialty Player of the Week: Dani Smith, Neumann