ELMIRA, N.Y. -- Forward Rachel Vespucci '19 of the women's basketball team and blueliner Rachel Grampp '18 of the nationally-ranked women's ice hockey team have been named Elmira College Athletes of the Week for their efforts during the final week of the regular season.

Vespucci's sophomore season can be considered anything but a slump, as the second-year forward finished the 2016-17 campaign in historic fashion. She averaged 12.3 points and 10.9 rebounds while starting all 25 games, making her one of just two players in the Empire 8 Conference to average a double-double this year. Perhaps more notably, she became the first Soaring Eagle to register a double-double season since Sheila Aber '87 did so during her senior season in 1986-87.

In games against Alfred University, St. John Fisher College, and Utica College last week, Vespucci averaged team highs with 18.0 points and 12.0 rebounds per contest. She also had an outstanding week from the foul line, as she converted 20-of-23 attempts (87.0%) from the charity stripe. In the home bout with the Saxons, the Macedon, New York, native netted a career-high 25 points. She finished the season with double-doubles on the road at Fisher (19 pts, 10 rbs) and Utica (10 pts, 15 rbs).

With 273 total rebounds this season, Vespucci ranks fourth all-time on the program's single-season leaderboard. She's in good company, as she trails only Mary Kay Babcock '82 – Elmira's all-time leader in career boards – on the single-season list.

Grampp was among the team leaders with three points in the final series of the 2016-17 regular season against SUNY Potsdam, which was played on the ice at the First Arena in downtown Elmira, New York, over the weekend.

On Saturday, the Williamsville, New York, product picked up the secondary assist on the eventual game-winning goal, as No.4/5 Elmira beat the Bears, 3-1. Her centering pass to Sarah Hughson '18 set up the Soaring Eagles' second goal, which was scored by Shannon Strawinski '19 at the 17:36 mark of the second period.

The 5-foot-8-inch defender added a career-high-tying two helpers in the 6-1 victory over Potsdam the following afternoon. Her first point came on EC's third goal, scored by Ari Smith '18 in the opening period. In the third, Grampp made a tremendous play at the blue line to strip Karina Villalobos of the puck. She then raced down the right-wing side into the offensive zone, and after fighting off one Potsdam defender, the junior fed the puck into the slot to Hughson for the score.

Grampp, a former ECAC West All-Rookie Team honoree, has registered at least one point in five of Elmira's last six games and has amassed six of her season's 10 points in that span. She has already established new single-season careers highs in both points (10) and assists (8), and with two tallies, she is just one goal shy of equaling her previous best.

Following a week-long break, Grampp and the No.4/5-ranked Soaring Eagles will return to action, as EC hosts the highest remaining seed in the semifinal round of the ECAC West Conference Tournament on Sunday, February 26th.