SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's volleyball team will make the trip to Ithaca College's Ben Light Gymnasium for the 2025 Liberty League Tournament, beginning on Friday evening when the second-seeded Garnet Chargers take on third-seeded William Smith College in the semifinal round.
THE TEAMS: Union (22-8, 7-1 Liberty League) faces off with William Smith (20-6, 6-2 Liberty League) in one semifinal after the Herons dispatched sixth-seeded Clarkson University in three sets in Tuesday's first-round matchup. The other semifinal features top-seeded and AVCA #15 Ithaca (24-4, 8-0 Liberty League) and fourth-seeded Skidmore College (16-9, 5-3 Liberty League) following the Thoroughbreds' 3-2 win over fifth-seeded Vassar College on Tuesday.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its seventh appearance in the Liberty League Tournament since the postseason switched to its current qualification format in 2011. Union is 3-6 in its six appearances (2013-16, 2022, 2024) and 2-1 as the higher seed, earning victories as the second seed in 2013 and 2015 and falling in the first round last season. The team is 31-41 all-time in Liberty League Tournament play, including back-to-back Liberty League titles in 2007 and 2008 that saw Union go 4-0 each season.
PLAYOFF POSITIONING: Union finished the regular season in sole possession of second place, the team's first top-two finish in the regular-season standings since taking second in 2015. The team's .875 winning percentage in conference play is the highest for a Union side since regular-season play was introduced in 2011.
UNION VS. WILLIAM SMITH: Union has dropped three of its five meetings with William Smith since the Herons started their program in 2022, including a 1-3 mark in regular-season play. In the team's lone postseason meeting, the sixth-seeded Garnet Chargers stunned the third-seeded Herons by a 3-2 score in the first round of the 2022 Liberty League Tournament.
LAST MEETING: The Garnet Chargers earned the second seed in the conference tournament with a 3-1 comeback win over the Herons on November 1 in Schenectady. Senior
Shannon McGrath led the team with 16 kills, followed by junior
Maddie McCarron and sophomores
Georgia Pinciaro and
Melody Herrin with seven kills apiece. Senior
Georgia Pool recorded 23 digs and McGrath added 13 for a double-double, while sophomore
Allie Kronenberg also posted a double-double with 10 digs and 35 assists.
GONE STREAKING: Union enters the postseason on a nine-match winning streak, which is the longest for a Union side in a decade, since the 2015 squad won 14 in a row. The stretch also is the seventh-longest winning streak in program history.
FEELING 22: Union's 22 wins so far this season under fourth-year head coach
Annie DeLoid are the most for the program since winning 25 matches in 2016, the last in a string of four straight 20-win seasons. DeLoid's 67 wins over her first four seasons have moved her into sixth place among Union volleyball coaches in career victories.
KILLING IT: Senior
Shannon McGrath ranks third in the Liberty League with her 392 kills so far this season, while her average of 4.22 kills per set is currently top-20 in Division III. She enters the weekend second in kills per set and eighth in kills for a single season at Union, and her 1,282 career kills enter the weekend fifth-most in program history. The senior will become the first Union player to lead the team in kills in four straight seasons since Rachel Wyman '16 led the squad in each of her four years from 2012-15.
LENDING AN ASSIST: Sophomore
Allie Kronenberg ranks third in the Liberty League with a team-leading 995 assists so far as a sophomore, needing just five more to become the 12th player in program history to reach quadruple figures in a season and seven to move into 11th place on the school single-season list. Her total ranks 23rd in Division III entering the postseason and marks the most assists for a Union player since Sage Shimamoto '21 dished out 1,077 assists in 2017.
JUST DIG IT: Senior
Georgia Pool's 489 digs this season are a career high and rank her third among Liberty League players this season, having recorded at least 10 digs in 25-of-28 matches and no fewer than eight in any match. The team enters the weekend fifth all-time at Union with 1,696 career digs and an average of 4.37 digs pet set.
ABOUT THE HERONS: William Smith has been a top-three seed in the Liberty League Tournament in all four years of the program's brief existence and have made the title round in each of the last two seasons. The Herons enter the weekend ranked fifth in Division III in hitting percentage (.270), helped by the conference's top-two hitters in Jaylynn McCarthy (.344) and Hope Van Dohlen (.332). Malya Sayre leads the squad and the Liberty League with 450 kills (4.74 kps), ranking seventh in the country in the category, while setter Delainy Williams is second-best in Division III by averaging 10.93 kills per set.
WHAT'S NEXT: The Union-William Smith winner will advance to Friday's championship game against the winner of Ithaca and Skidmore, with two teams vying for the Liberty League championship on Saturday at 5 p.m.
2025 Liberty League Tournament
First Round – Tuesday, November 11, 2025
#3 William Smith 3, #6 Clarkson 0
#4 Skidmore 3, #5 Vassar 2
Semifinal Round – Friday, November 14, 2025 (at Ithaca)
#1 Ithaca vs. #4 Skidmore, 4:00 p.m.
#2 Union vs. #3 William Smith, 6:30 p.m.
Championship Game – Saturday, November 15, 2025 (at Ithaca)
Semifinal #1 Winner vs. Semifinal #2 Winner, 5:00 p.m.
