The women's volleyball team, which established a single-season record with its 25-12 campaign, will make its first-ever appearance in an Eastern College Athletic Conference championship
tournament. The eighth-seeded
Dutchwomen will play top-seeded, and host, Springfield, Friday at 1 p.m.
Second-year head coach Sandy Collins, who last year led the
Dutchwomen to their first New York State Women's Collegiate Athletic
Association invitation since 1996, guided Union to a ninth-place finish in this
year's event. Last week the Dutchwomen
finished second in the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association Championship
Tournament, losing its only match to Vassar in five sets. The Brewers won went on to win the title.
Union, which established volleyball as one of its first
women's varsity sports in 1975, has never been invited to a postseason
tournament other than the New York State event. This year's 25-win season breaks the previous Union standard of
24, set in 1994 when the squad was 24-8.
Junior Corinn Jordan and
sophomore co-captain Sarah Pontius have been the mainstays of the team this
year. Both players were named to the
UCAA All-Tournament team and were joined by freshman Susan Gestwick on the UCAA
All-Conference squad. Jordan leads the
Dutchwomen in both kills (517 for an average of 3.69 a game) and digs (727, an
average of 5.19) while Pontius is the squad's assist leader with 1,232 (an
average of 8.86). Gestwick, meanwhile,
has a team-high 167 block solos and 223 total blocks (an average of 1.59) and
is fourth on the team with her 217 kills (1.55).
Senior co-captain Melinda Colon, a four-year starter, has
enjoyed another solid season for the Dutchwomen. Colon is second in both kills (274 for an average of 1.96) and digs
(575 for an average of 4.11).