NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Oct. 12, 2026) - For the second time this season, Georgian Court senior Carmen Rivera Colon earned the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Defensive Player of the Week honor. 

Rivera Colon helped the Lions to a 2-1 mark last week with wins over Millersville and Chestnut Hill.

The Lions defensive efforts, led by Rivera Colon, played a big role in the pair of wins. The Lions didn't allow a single service ace in the win against Millersville. In the win against Chesnut Hill, the Lions picked up 102 digs. The last time GCU had a match with 100+ digs came way back in 2015.

Rivera Colon had a hand in all of that defensive excellence. She averaged 6.08 digs per set in the 12 sets GCU played. She set a new career-high with 35 digs in the Lions win over Chestnut Hill. She was also almost perfect on serve reception with just one reception error on 96 attempts. 

The CACC Defensive Player of the Week award caps an historic week for Rivera Colon who also recorded her 100th career service ace in the Lions win over the Griffins. 

The week also saw Rivera Colon pick up eight assists and two kills coming in back-to-back games.

While this is Rivera Colon's second CACC Defensive Player of the Week award this season, it's the fourth of her career. She had received one weekly award each of the last two seasons. This is the first season she's earned two.

Rivera Colon and the Lions are starting this week with a road match at Southern New Hampshire. They'll take the rest of the business week off before playing again on the road Saturday, Oct. 17 at Bridgeport.