SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's volleyball team picked up a much-needed sweep at the Union Tri-Match on Saturday afternoon, defeating Mount St. Mary College by a 3-0 score and then outlasting St. John Fisher College by a 3-1 score at the Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Juniors Gillian Gore and Lara Atalay led Union (9-8) with 23 kills apiece on the afternoon, with Gore also ranking second on the team with 23 digs. Classmate Julia Louis put down 17 kills on .406 hitting in only five sets of action, while fellow junior Stephanie Libonati added 16 kills and a team-best six blocks.
 
As a team, Union hit .324 on the day with 102 kills, 24 service aces and 11 blocks.
 
Union 3, Mount St. Mary 0 (25-8, 25-12, 25-16)
 
Union got contributions from almost everyone on the roster in the first match of the day, with eight different players recording at least one kill as part of a 3-0 sweep of Mount St. Mary.
 
Atalay led the Dutchwomen with 11 kills on 21 swings (.381), while Gore put down eight of her 15 attacks (.533). The Dutchwomen also recorded 14 service aces on the day, led by four from freshman Haley Kresch.
 
Libonati and junior Katie Stevens led the defensive effort with four blocks each, as part of the team's eight-block afternoon, while junior Kaylee Velasquez led all players with 10 digs on the day.
 
In the opening set, Union held a 7-5 lead before an incredible 18-3 run, including six straight points to close out the frame. The home team jumped out to a big lead In the second set thanks to 11 straight points on the serve of junior Sage Shimamoto that opened up a 16-3 lead and allowed Union to take the second set handily. The Knights led 9-6 early in the third set before the Dutchwomen rebounded, getting seven straight points on the serve of Kresch and then five in a row on Velasquez's serve to seal the sweep.
 
Union 3, St. John Fisher 1 (25-17, 26-24, 20-25, 26-24)
 
Union racked up the kills in the second match of the day, putting down a season-best 67 kills while hitting .333 as a team in the 3-1 victory over the Cardinals.
 
Louis led four Dutchwomen in double figures with a team-high 16 kills on .500 hitting, followed by Gore with 15 kills and 14 digs. Junior Katie Moss also hit well with 13 kills on .417 hitting, while Shimamoto recorded a career-best 57 assists, the most by a Dutchwoman since Amanda Price '16 on September 5, 2015 and the most in a four-set match in over a decade.
 
The Dutchwomen looked excellent offensively in taking the first two sets, starting with a stellar .471 hitting percentage in the opening stanza that saw the home team put down 19 kills on 34 attempts. The team added 19 more kills on .381 hitting in the second stanza on the way to a 2-0 lead.
 
St. John Fisher responded with .483 hitting to take the third set, and the Cardinals looked ready to take the match to five sets with a 23-18 lead in the fourth. However, five straight Union points – including two kills from Moss and an ace from sophomore Olivia Salvador – helped to knot the score at 23. The home team fought off a set point at 24-23 thanks to a Gore kill, and that was followed by a Fisher error and a block by Moss and Shimamoto on match point that secured the win.
 
Union returns to Liberty League play this weekend with a pair of matches at the Viniar Athletic Center, beginning on Friday at 7 p.m. against St. Lawrence University.