Hempstead, NY - A pair of Hofstra players earned the first Colonial Athletic Association awards of their careers today as junior Sarah Pierre was named the CAA Co-Defensive Player of the Week and freshman Florencia Wolkowyski earned CAA Rookie of the Week accolades, it was announced by the conference office this afternoon.

It has been a strong start to the year for Hofstra in regards to CAA weekly honors as Pierre and Wolkowyski are the fourth and fifth award winners of the year for the Pride. Freshman Chiara Cucco was the CAA Rookie of the Week on August 30 and the CAA Defensive Player of the Week on September 6, while freshman Beatriz Alves garnered CAA Rookie of the Week honors on September 6. 

Hofstra split the opening weekend of conference play with Towson, winning a five-set match on Saturday before Towson earned a four-set victory on Sunday. 

It was an incredible week defensively for Pierre as she totaled 18 blocks in the two matches and also added nine digs. In Saturday's CAA lid-lifter she posted a career-high 12 blocks and added a pair of kills. She followed that up on Sunday with a 6-block, 7-kill performance. For the week she averaged a stellar 2.00 blocks per set, along with 1.00 kills per set. Pierre had double-figure blocks in back-to-back matches with 11 at Colgate on September 11 and a career-high 12 versus Towson on September 18. She is the first Hofstra player with at least two matches with double-figure blocks since Adama Aja had three such matches in 2014.

Wolkowyski had the best week of her young career with two strong matches as the Pride opened conference play with a split of the weekend series with Towson. In Saturday's match which ended a slew of Towson win streaks, Wolkowyski posted 12 kills and six blocks to assist in a strong effort by the Pride. She followed that up with a season-high-tying 15 kills in Sunday's contest. She also added six digs and three blocks in the match. For the week she totaled 27 kills, nine blocks, and seven digs. She averaged 3.00 kills, 1.00 blocks, and 0.78 digs per set.