WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Union College women's volleyball team battled hard against an undefeated Williams College squad on Tuesday night, but the visitors came up a few points short in a 3-1 (25-20, 25-13, 20-25, 25-22) defeat at Chandler Gymnasium.
 
Sophomore Shannon McGrath led Union (4-4) with 13 kills on .278 hitting and also added 10 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. Senior Keara Page came on strong in the fourth set, putting down a season-best 10 kills, and first-year Maddie McCarron chipped in with seven kills. Sophomore Georgia Pool led the defensive effort with a team-best 15 digs and first-year Sydney Scanlon added 20 assists as well for the visitors.
 
The tandem of Celia Adams and Marit Hoyem was too much for Williams (4-0), with Adams leading all players with 16 kills and Hoyem adding 13 kills and four blocks.
 
The Garnet Chargers found themselves very much in three of the four frames, keeping pace with the Ephs for most of the night. The visitors led for much of the first frame's early portion, building up a 9-7 lead after a Scanlon ace before an 11-3 run gave the home team some breathing room on the way to taking the opening set. Union then had its worst set of the night in the second stanza, managing just six kills to fall behind two sets to none.
 
But the team did not concede defeat easily, hitting .370 with 12 kills and only two errors in the third set to stay alive. Despite falling behind 9-3 early on, Union buckled down and gave up back-to-back points only once the rest of the way. An 8-2 run knotted the score at 11 before the visitors earned their first lead on a block by McCarron and classmate Graciela Escobar. A brief 4-0 run soon after created some separation, and Union closed on a 4-1 stint to take the third set and extend the match.
 
Union added 12 more kills in the fourth frame, but too many errors stagnated any hopes of the fifth set. The Garnet Chargers again came back from an early deficit to get within one at 11-10; however, the visitors were unable to string together points to back to even. Union's only back-to-back points – three in a row that included two Page kills – almost evened the score at 22-21, but Williams closed on a 3-1 mini-run to finish off the match.
 
Union will return home to host the Union/Russell Sage Crosstown Challenge this weekend, kicking off the first of seven matches at Viniar Athletic Center on Friday at 4 p.m. against Springfield College.