SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's volleyball team earned a pair of wins at its home tri-match on Saturday at Viniar Athletic Center, posting a 3-1 win over Manhattanville University to start the day and a 3-0 sweep of Nazareth University to finish up the afternoon.
 
Senior Shannon McGrath led the way for Union (11-6) with 37 kills in seven sets (5.29 kills/set) on .341 hitting, moving her into seventh place on the school's all-time kills ledger. Senior Georgia Pool (22 digs) and sophomore Graciela Escobar (20 digs) led the defensive effort, while sophomore Allie Kronenberg registered a team-best 55 assists and five service aces on the day.
 
Union 3, Manhattanville 1 (25-12, 23-25, 25-15, 25-16)
 
The Garnet Chargers started the day with a hard-fought 3-1 win over Manhattanville, hitting .294 to pull out the victory. McGrath put down 20 kills on .340 hitting and added a team-best 13 digs, and Kronenberg came one dig short of joining McGrath with a double-double, finishing with 40 kills, seven kills, nine digs and six blocks in an excellent all-around effort. Sophomore Georgia Pinciaro and first-year Shea Ringel chipped in nine kills apiece as well in the win.
 
After spotting the Valiants three points to start, Union came back with seven in a row and never relinquished the lead from there. Leading by three at 11-8, the home team went on a 10-1 run to seal the opening frame.
 
After a late run allowed Manhattanville to take the second set, the Garnet Chargers led for a majority of the third frame. An 8-2 run put the home team up by a 13-7 margin, and Union closed on a 6-1 run to take the pivotal set. Union started the fourth frame on a 7-0 run to take control early and never let the Valiants back into the set, leading by as many as nine points on the way to the win.
 
Union 3, Nazareth 0 (25-15, 25-10, 25-12)
 
Union closed the day with a convincing sweep of Nazareth, limiting the Golden Flyers to negative hitting for the match while hitting .281 as a team. McGrath again hit an efficient .342 with 17 kills on 38 attempts, followed by Pinciaro with seven kills and sophomore Adrienne Long with six.
 
Nazareth hung with Union to start the first set, holding a 12-11 lead, before Union charged away with a 16-4 run to take control. The home team followed up with nine straight points to start the second stanza for its easiest set win of the day. Leading 11-10 in the third, the Garnet Chargers rattled off 13 straight points to set up match point and eventually complete the sweep.
 
Union is back in action on Wednesday with a non-conference match at Middlebury College beginning at 7 p.m.