DUBUQUE, Iowa - The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) on Monday afternoon released the conference athletes of the week. For the fourth time this season, the University of Dubuque women's volleyball team swept the weekly awards as Taylor Bechen (Defensive) and Delainey Winkel (Offensive) were both awarded weekly honors by the conference.

The Spartans close out the regular season with a 2-0 week, with a five-set win over Simpson College to secure the third regular-season title in the last four seasons for the Spartans and also went undefeated in conference play in all three of those seasons.

Bechen (Ankeny, Iowa / Ankeny Centennial HS) had the second-most digs of any game she has played this season, along with recording the most digs in a conference game this season. Doing so against Simpson with 37 digs, totaling 57 total digs (7.13 d/s) this week after a 20-dig performance against the sweep of North Park. This is Bechen's sixth weekly honor this season and 16th of her career.

Winkel (Ankeny, Iowa / Ankeny Centennial HS) had 33 total kills (4.13 k/s) over the final week of the regular season, including a 22-kill performance against Simpson, as well as 25 digs in the win against the Storm. This is Winkel's third weekly honor of the season and fifth of her career.

Bechen, Winkel, and the Spartans will open the A-R-C Women's Volleyball Tournament on Thursday, November 12 in the semifinals. They will wait for the winner of No. 4 seed Wartburg or No. 5 seed Nebraska Wesleyan. The Spartans will host the semifinal game at 7:00 p.m. at the Stoltz Sports Center.