Almario, Blank, Bynon earn GNAC Weekly Honors

(Boston, Mass.) The Great Northeast Athletic Conference has released their weekly honors and for the first time this season, the Rivier University Men's Volleyball team was represented as three student-athletes were selected as the Offensive Player of the Week, Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week.

Senior Aaron Almario was chosen as the Offensive Player of the Week. Almario led Rivier to a 4-0 start including wins over #1 Springfield College and #5 Baruch College. The 6-7 middle hitter hit for a .423 clip and scored 2.42 kills per set all while averaging 1.5 blocks over the four games. The Alhambria, California native highlighted his stellar week with a 5 block, 12 kill (.526 hitting percentage) performance in a 3-1 win over #1 Springfield.

Senior Matt Bynon (Burnt Hills, NY) was also chosen as the GNAC's Defensive Player of the Week. Against some of the top competition in Division III, Bynon was solid. As the libero he scooped up 30 digs on the week while back boning the Raiders to four wins. He saved his best performance in the match against #5 Baruch College where he guided the team from a 2-1 deficit to win the fifth set with 16 digs.

In his opening weekend as a Rivier University Raider, freshman Tyler Blank has been named the GNAC's Rookie of Week after an outstanding weekend. He helped lead the team to four wins and played his best against the best. In the opening game against #1 Springfield College, Blank tallied 37 assists, 5 digs, 4 blocks and 3 service aces as the Raiders earned their first win over a #1 team in the history of the program. The rookie dished out a total of 119 assists for a 9.92 assists per set average and also chipped in with 14 digs, 8 blocks and 4 service aces on the week.