Hempstead, NY - Hofstra University volleyball's Valentina Lopez Moya has been named the CAA Defensive Player of the Week, the conference announced Monday.

It is the first weekly CAA honor of Lopez Moya's career. She becomes the third Pride player to earn the award this season, joining Geovanna Gonçalves Rocha (Aug. 31, Oct. 5) and Julia Amorim (Sept. 14, Sept. 28), and marks Hofstra's conference-leading fifth Defensive Player of the Week honor of 2026.

Since seeing her first action of the season on Oct. 9 at UNCW, the sophomore middle blocker has carved out a growing role for the Pride, and she broke through last week at William & Mary.

Lopez Moya recorded a career-high 11.0 blocks (2 solo, 9 assist) in just four sets during Friday's 3-2 win over the Tribe, the most by a Hofstra player this season. It was the highest single-match total by a Pride player since Amorim's 14 blocks against Temple on Sept. 14, 2025.

For the week, Lopez Moya averaged a team-best 1.57 blocks per set as Hofstra held William & Mary to a .140 attack percentage across the two matches.

She was productive on the other side of the net as well, totaling 11 kills on .391 hitting. In Thursday's 3-1 win, Lopez Moya put down a season-high seven kills on .600 hitting, committing just one error in 10 attempts.

The weekend sweep moved Hofstra to 16-4 overall and 11-1 in the CAA, one loss behind first-place Charleston. Following its bye week, the Pride return to action with a weekend series at Towson on Nov. 6-7.