Sandy Collins, now in her third season as the women's volleyball coach, picked up her 50th victory at Union and her 75th overall last weekend while leading the Dutchwomen to the championship of their own tournament. Collins, who guided Union to an 18-14 record in 2000, led the Dutchwomen to a school-record 25-13 campaign last year. Not only did last year's squad set the standard for victories in a season, the Dutchwomen were invited to the ECAC tournament for the first time since volleyball became a varsity sport at Union in 1976.
Collins, who was at Randolph
Macon before coming to Union, picked up her landmark
victories against some tough competition. The Dutchwomen
knocked off Oneonta, the state's fourth-ranked team at the
time, 26-30, 27-30, 32-30, 31-29 and 15-13 on Friday night
before handing Vassar its first loss in nine matches on
Saturday, 23-30, 27-30, 30-20, 30-25. The win over the
Brewers also avenged an earlier loss at the Vassar Tournament
when Union dropped a 23-30, 27-30, 30-25, 30-21, and 15-12
decision to its UCAA rival
The four-match sweep of the Union Invitational not only left
the Dutchwomen with a 7-2 record, it gave the Garnet seven
consecutive victories since dropping season-opening contests
to perennial powers Skidmore and Vassar.If last
weekend's success wasn't enough for the Garnet, Union went to
Middlebury, Vermont on Tuesday, September 24 and beat the
Panthers, 3-2. The Dutchwomen captured the first two
games, lost the next two, then won the tie-breaking fifth
match, 15-4.
Coaches around
the state are taking note of Union's early-season achievements
as the Dutchwomen were ranked fifth in the
region.