NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - Bethany College women's volleyball junior Academic All-PAC middle blocker Ashton Thomas (Toronto, Ohio) has been named the Presidents' Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in her career.

Thomas earns her first career PAC weekly award and the Bison's first weekly accolade of the year after helping lead the team to back-to-back sweeps in conference play last week. Against Waynesburg, she recorded a match-high four blocks, including one solo, while also contributing two digs. Offensively, Thomas had five kills on 11 attacks for a .455 hitting percentage and added an assist against the Yellow Jackets. In Bethany's Friday night victory over Geneva, she added three more block assists as well as two kills, one dig, and one service ace to help keep the Bison in the hunt for a spot in the PAC Tournament.

This season, Thomas has appeared in all 22 matches and 75 sets where she leads the Green and White and is eighth in the conference with 46 blocks. She is also fourth on the team in kills with 105 and has served up a career-high 10 aces for a 145-point total: the team's second-most. Thomas has also added 29 digs and six assists in 2026.

In her career, Thomas has appeared in 71 matches and 254 sets where she has compiled 352 kills, 170 blocks, 72 digs, 16 assists, and 10 service aces for a total of 474.5 points. She is an Academic All-PAC honoree.

The Bison are back in action Wednesday, October 28 as they host a Presidents' Athletic Conference match against Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) College at 6 p.m. on Joe Kurey Memorial Court at Hummel Fieldhouse.