GANSEVOORT, N.Y. – Penn State Altoona won both of the North Eastern Athletic Conference's weekly men's volleyball awards on Tuesday, as senior middle hitter Dan Downs (Reading, PA/Daniel Boone) was named the NEAC's Player of the Week while sophomore libero Brandon Arentz (Mount Wolf, PA/Northeastern) received Defensive Player of the Week honors.

Downs and Arentz both played critical roles in the Lions' success last week, helping the team go 3-0 – including a pair of conference wins.

In Thursday night's 3-1 win at non-conference opponent Thiel College, Downs had a team-high 13 kills while swinging at a .579 clip. In Saturday afternoon's 3-1 win at home over North Eastern Athletic Conference foe Keuka College, the senior totaled 13 kills and posted an attack percentage of .571. On Sunday afternoon, in a 3-0 home sweep of NEAC and Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference opponent Medaille College, Downs led the Lions with 11 kills, a .550 attack percentage, three solo blocks, and two block assists.

On the week, Downs had 37 kills (3.36 kills per set) and five total blocks (0.45 blocks per set), totaling 41.0 points (3.7 points per set). The senior posted an excellent .567 attack percentage, committing just three attack errors in 11 sets played.

This is Downs' second career NEAC weekly award, as the senior won the Defensive Player of the Week recognition earlier this season. He was named the AMCC's Player of the Week yesterday.

Arentz led Penn State Altoona in digs in each of the team's three matches last week. On Thursday evening at Thiel, the sophomore had a team-high 12 digs. In Saturday's match against Keuka, he recorded a career-high 22 digs. The next day versus Medaille, Arentz again led his squad with 12 digs.

Arentz totaled 46 digs last week, averaging an impressive 4.18 digs per set. He also chipped in 12 assists for a 1.09 assists per set average.

This is Arentz's fourth NEAC Defensive Player of the Week award this season.

Penn State Altoona men's volleyball is 13-10 overall, including a 4-1 NEAC record and a 2-1 AMCC record. The Lions hit the road to play NEAC and AMCC opponent D'Youville College this Saturday, March 31 at 1:00 p.m.

To read the NEAC's release on Downs and Arentz being selected as its Players of the Week, click HERE.