ALFRED, NY -- For the first time in her career at Alfred University, first-year Darian Ortiz (Santa Fe, NM/St. Michael's) earned an Empire 8 Athletic Conference Weekly Award as she was named the Women's Volleyball Rookie of the Week as made official in an announcement from Associate Commissioner, Joe Venniro on Monday afternoon.

Ortiz closed out her inaugural season by almost breaking a school record in service aces as she helped the Saxons go 1-1 in a non-conference tri-match on Saturday. Despite falling to Oswego State in the opening match, Ortiz broke a career-high in points with 9.0 as 8.0 of those came from her near-school record, eight service aces. The Alfred University school record for most service aces in a four-set match is 11, held by Heather D'Andrea '18. Had the match gone to five sets, Ortiz would have automatically owned the five-set record without needing anymore aces as that record is only seven, held by Danielle VanCott '09. The Saxons won the third set as they put together a 10-4 run that was highlighted by Ortiz scoring on three aces in a row. They then opened the fourth set up against Oswego with a 6-0 lead that saw another three aces from Ortiz. Ortiz also broke a career-high in digs as she recorded 26 against Oswego. She totaled 10 aces on the weekend and 36 digs as well.

Ortiz recorded three set assists and one kill. Ortiz closes the year with 48 aces which puts her at the No. 4 spot in AU history for most single-season aces. Had it not been for those 10 aces on Saturday, Ortiz would have closed out the year with only 38 which would have kept her off the all-time, Top-10 list. She is on pace to be the program record-holder as the school record is 143 aces, held by Aubrey Totsline '18 and D'Andrea.

Ortiz was also named one of the Saxons of the Week and was joined by men's soccer's Justin Eaton (Williamson, NY/Williamson) as he broke a school record in single-season goals and tied for No. 2 in the all-time single-season points with 27, sending the men's soccer team to its first back-to-back Empire 8 Tournament appearance since the 2003 and 2004 seasons.