Rivera took home her first NEC Defensive Player of the Week honor after turning in a tremendous defensive weekend for the Blackbirds. She started the weekend by posting an astounding 48 digs against Saint Francis U in the five-set match win. The total broke a 12-year NEC single-match record formerly held by RMU's Darcy Thomas, who posted 45 digs against Akron on September 3, 2004. Rivera also matched the 2016 NCAA single-match season-high, with Fort Wayne’s Olivia Hahn notching 48 digs over five sets against Omaha on September 23. Rivera added 20 more digs in a setback to Robert Morris on Sunday. She finished the weekend with 68 digs, an average of 8.5 per set. The freshman from Cayey, Puerto Rico leads the conference with 7.63 digs per set in NEC play.