GENEVA, N.Y. – The Union College women's volleyball team dropped its Liberty League opener to William Smith College by a 3-0 (25-11, 25-22, 26-24) margin on Friday evening at Bristol Gym.
Union (7-4, 0-1 Liberty League) was paced by junior
Kayla Martinez Cartagena with eight kills and senior
Erin Stevens with seven kills on .300 hitting. Junior
Allie Kronenberg had the team's only double-double with 21 assists and 10 digs, while first-year
Vanessa Morgan chipped in a match-high 18 digs and fellow first-year
Johanna Melhorn recorded a match-best five blocks.
Cassidy Breuer had a match-high 11 kills and three aces and added 11 digs as well to lead William Smith (8-2, 1-0 Liberty League).
Union ran into a hot-hitting Heron squad in the first set, as William Smith put down 19 kills with only two errors on .500 hitting in a 25-11 win. The Garnet Chargers could string together consecutive points only once in the frame, as the Herons went 10-for-11 on sideout opportunities.
The Herons cooled off over the next two frames, but Union was unable to take advantage. The visitors put down 12 kills in the second stanza, led by a team-leading four from junior
Georgia Pinciaro. Union led for the first half of the frame, but an 8-2 run for William Smith turned an 11-10 deficit into an 18-13 advantage. Union attempted a comeback by saving five straight set points, but the deficit was too much to overcome.
The Garnet Chargers jumped out to a 6-2 lead to start the third set, helped by two Stevens kills and two Kronenberg aces. A 5-0 run gave Union its largest lead of the night at 18-12, but a 9-2 WSC run put the home team on top for the first time. Union rallied with four of the next five points, helped by a Morgan ace and two blocks, to earn a pair of set points; however, a kill and two aces by Breuer erased the deficit as part of a match-clinching 4-0 run.
Union hit .093 (27-17-107) on the night, compared to William Smith's .241 hitting (43-15-116). The Herons also recorded 12 aces to Union's six and posted a 61-49 edge in digs.
Union will be back in action tomorrow with two matches in Ithaca, taking on AVCA #13 Ithaca College in a Liberty League matchup at 1 p.m. before battling Buffalo State University in a 3 p.m. non-conference contest.
