TROY, N.Y. - Union College student-athletes collected three weekly honors from the Liberty League and had four more named to the honor roll for the week ending Sunday, October 11.
Women's Volleyball Performer of the Week: Kayla Martinez Cartagena
Martinez Cartagena averaged four kills per set and hit .318 in leading Union to a 3-0 week, including a pair of conference victories. The junior started the week by hitting .500 in a three-set win over SUNY Delhi, putting down 12 kills on 20 attempts, including an impressive 11 kills in just the first two sets. She led the team with 14 kills in a 3-1 conference victory over Skidmore on Friday night, hitting .265 and adding two assists, seven digs and a block. She needed only three sets to record 14 kills the next day in a sweep of Clarkson, again hitting .265 to go with three digs, one assist and an ace. The junior recorded 17 of her 40 kills in the first set of the three matches, helping the Garnet Chargers start out strong on the way to the three victories.
Women's Soccer Defensive Performer of the Week: Maya Koster
Koster stopped all 12 on-target shots she faced last week in a pair of scoreless ties for Union, extending her personal scoreless streak to 481:28 over the course of six matches. The senior made six saves on Wednesday night as Union battled #9 Vassar to a stalemate, including four stops in the second half as the Brewers pressed to get on the board late in the match. She made six more saves on Saturday to keep Union unbeaten in conference play with another draw at RIT, earning her conference-best sixth shutout of the season and 12th of her career.
Men's Swimming & Diving Rookie of the Week: Samuel Staudinger
Staudinger made a strong first impression in his collegiate debut, winning two individual events and anchoring the first-place 400-freestyle relay as Union split a tri-meet with Clarkson and St. Lawrence. The first-year touched first in the 100 freestyle with a time of 49.53 to earn the win by over three-tenths of a second, and also took first in the 200 free by six-hundredths of a second in 1:50.41. He also finished up Union's first-place race in the 400 freestyle and led off the 200 medley relay that finished second.
Honor Roll Mentions:
Men's Soccer: Gavin Blake and
Dmitri Wild-Arons
Blake and Wild-Arons helped Union to a pair of victories last week. Blake paced Union with two goals and an assist, recording his first career multi-goal game with a pair of first-half tallies in a 4-1 win over SUNY Canton on Tuesday before adding an assist on an insurance goal early in the second half of Union's 3-0 victory over RIT on Saturday. In his only game of the week, Wild-Arons stopped all four shots he faced - two in each half - to pick up the shutout victory in the conference win over RIT.
Men's Swimming & Diving: Troy Luley
Luley shined in Union's season-opening tri-meet with Clarkson and St. Lawrence on Saturday, winning the 50 breaststroke by almost a second in 27.98 and triumphing in the 100 breaststroke by more than two seconds with a time of 1:01.29. He also swam the breaststroke on Union's second-place 200 medley relay and was part of the 400 freestyle relay that placed third.
Women's Swimming & Diving: Chloe Matthews
Matthews led the way for Union in a pair of wins over Clarkson and St. Lawrence to start the 2026-27 season, posting victories in all four of her events. The team captain started off by winning the 200 freestyle by over three seconds, touching the wall in 2:05.61, then was even better in the 100 freestyle with a time of 56.81 that beat the field by nearly four seconds. She finished her perfect day by out-touching a SLU swimmer by three-hundredths of a second in the 200 individual medley (2:21.76). Matthews also swam the butterfly in Union's winning 200 medley relay to start the day as well.
