PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The Union College women's volleyball team split a pair of matches in its 2021 season-opener on Friday night at the Johnson & Wales Invitational, outlasting SUNY New Paltz in a five-set marathon before coming up short to the host Wildcats in four sets.
 
Union 3, New Paltz 2
Union started its 2021 campaign with a hard-fought five-set victory over New Paltz. Unfortunately, no stats are available for the match at this time.
 
Johnson & Wales 3, Union 1
Union started off slowly in their second match of the evening and then faded down the stretch in a 3-1 (25-12, 25-20, 24-26, 25-23) defeat.
 
Three players tied for the team lead in kills in the loss, as junior Julia Webster, sophomore Keara Page and first-year Kirsten Litchfield all put down eight kills in their Union debuts. Junior Haley Kresch just missed a double-double with 26 assists and nine digs, while senior Jessica Siragusa posted a match-best 24 digs in a losing effort.
 
Coming off the New Paltz victory, Union struggled in the opening set, recording just five kills. Trailing by one at 6-5, the Dutchwomen could not string together consecutive points the rest of the way as the home team took the opening set. A 10-3 run midway through the second set put Union in a good spot up 15-11, but JWU mounted a comeback, recording 14 of the set's final 19 points to take a 2-0 lead.
 
Union came out strong in the third set, scoring five straight points to take an early 8-3 lead and then adding on eight consecutive points to run its lead to 11 at 16-5. The Wildcats clawed back to tie the score at 19, but back-to-back kills from junior Denesha Lafontant and Litchfield put Union back ahead. Johnson & Wales again battled back and had a match point at 24-23, but a Webster kill extended the match and back-to-back JWU errors gave Union the third set.
 
The visitors took that momentum into the fourth set, grabbing an early 9-3 lead. But the tide quickly turned, with Johnson & Wales scoring 10 of the next 12 points to gain the advantage. The teams traded leads until a Lafontant ace tied the set at 22, but a service error and two JWU kills sealed the set and the match for the home team.
 
Union will return to action tomorrow with two more matches at Johnson & Wales, taking on Clark University at 11 a.m. and Babson College at 1:30 p.m.