SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's volleyball team celebrated Senior Day with a pair of impressive wins over teams receiving votes in the AVCA national poll, earning the second seed in the upcoming Liberty League Tournament with a hard-fought 3-1 win over William Smith College and then sweeping Babson College by a 3-0 score on Saturday at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Senior Shannon McGrath led Union (19-8, 7-1 Liberty League) with 27 kills and added 23 digs, and with her 20th dig of the day became the sixth player in program history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs for a career. Classmate Georgia Pool paced the team with 39 digs and chipped in five assists and three service aces, while fellow senior Emma Main recorded 12 digs, an assist and an ace.
 
In addition to the seniors, junior Maddie McCarron had a huge game at the net, hitting .606 with 20 kills on 33 errorless attacks to go with four blocks. Sophomore Melody Herrin added 10 kills on .450 hitting and a team-leading seven blocks, classmate Georgia Pinciaro hit .394 with 15 kills, and fellow sophomore Allie Kronenberg averaged 10 assists per set with 70 along with four blocks.
 
Union 3, William Smith 1 (14-25, 25-22, 25-14, 25-21)
 
The Garnet Chargers started the day with a huge comeback win over the Herons in a battle for second place in the Liberty League standings, securing the highest single-season conference winning percentage for a Union side since regular-season play was introduced in 2011 and the team's first top-two finish in the regular-season standings since taking second in 2015.
 
McGrath led the team with 16 kills, followed by McCarron, Pinciaro and Herrin with seven kills apiece. Pool recorded 23 digs and McGrath added 13 for a double-double, while Kronenberg also posted a double-double with 10 digs and 35 assists.
 
William Smith (19-6, 6-2 Liberty League) had its best set of the day in the opening frame, hitting .395 to grab an early lead. However, Union responded with a gritty second stanza, putting down 12 kills with only one error (.379) to even the match. The Herons jumped out to a 5-1 lead did not trail until the latter stages, when the home team closed on a 7-2 run to finish off the frame.
 
Union again made only one error in a dominant third set, putting down 13 kills on .480 hitting to take its first lead. With the set tied at eight, the Garnet Chargers used a 9-4 run to take a 17-12 advantage and then closed on an 8-2 stretch.
 
Union closed the match with a hard-fought fourth frame, with McGrath accounting for half of Union's 14 kills. Leading by one at 17-16, a 7-3 run brought up match point and Kronenberg and McCarron combined on a block to finish off the match.
 
Union 3, Babson 0 (25-20, 27-25, 25-19)
 
The Garnet Chargers ended the day by sweeping Babson for another convincing victory. McCarron hit .591 with a team-leading 13 kills, followed by McGrath with 11 and 10 digs for another double-double. Pinciaro chipped in eight kills and sophomore Kayla Martinez Cartagena put down seven as part of a well-rounded effort at the net.
 
With the opening set tied at 10, a 7-1 run created some distance for the home team and allowed the squad to withstand a late Babson run. Up by two at 22-20, back-to-back kills by Herrin and junior Graciela Escobar brought up set point and a Beaver error ended the frame.
 
The Garnet Chargers looked to be in control of the second stanza up 21-16, but Babson rattled off six straight points to take a 22-21 lead and then fended off two set points to eventually take a 25-24 advantage. But Union had the last run, with a Pinciaro kill followed by two kills from Martinez Cartagena that put Union up 2-0.
 
Union used an extended 10-3 run to take control of the third set and cruised the rest of the way to complete the sweep.
 
Union will take its six-match winning streak into the final week of the regular season, which begins on Thursday with a non-conference match at Clark University.