Two Penn State Altoona men's volleyball players earned weekly recognition from the Eastern College Athletic Conference's Division III South Region on Wednesday afternoon, as sophomore libero Waldemar Rivera-Berrios was named the Defensive Player of the Week and freshman outside/opposite hitter Brandon Arentz was picked the Rookie of the Week.

Rivera-Berrios and Arentz both had strong performances for the Lions last Friday, February 3 and Saturday, February 4 in the team's first North Eastern Athletic Conference matches of the season, which were hosted at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. The duo helped Penn State Altoona go 2-1 in a trio of matches.

Rivera-Berrios led all players in digs in each of the three matches. In a tough 3-2 loss to SUNY Polytechnic on Friday evening, he totaled 19 digs. The sophomore opened the next day by tallying 12 digs in a 3-0 victory over Keuka College. Later that day, the Lions defeated Wells College 3-1, and Rivera-Berrios finished with a career-high 25 digs. Rivera-Berrios finished the weekend with 56 total digs for an average of 4.67 digs per set.

On Friday versus SUNY Polytechnic, Arentz had five digs, three kills, one ace, and one block assist. Against Keuka on Saturday, he finished with nine kills, seven digs, two aces, and one block assist. Arentz wrapped up Saturday's action by recording 13 kills, 13 digs, one solo block, and three block assists against Wells. On the week, he averaged 2.08 kills per set while swinging at a .222 clip. Arentz also averaged 2.08 digs per set, 0.50 blocks per set, and 0.25 aces per set.