Sandy Collins
Head coach Sandy Collins, now in her third season as the Dutchwomen's volleyball head coach, keeps pushing her young and talented squad to new heights. The Dutchwomen will enter Union's history book this weekend as they become the first team to qualify for the New York State Women's Collegiate championship tournament for the third consecutive season. This year's Garnet squad also became the first at Union to put together consecutive 20-win seasons, and the Dutchwomen's sixth-place ranking going into the tournament is the highest ever achieved by a Union squad. The event is being hosted by Hunter College.
Union will open its bid for the state title Saturday at noon against 11th-seeded Rochester.
Collins, who took over the program prior to the 2000 season, led that team to an 18-14 overall record, which included the Dutchwomen's first state tournament invitation since the 1996 campaign. While Union lost its only two postseason matches that year, the team's success was the cornerstone for last year's record-setting 25-13 campaign. Not only did the Dutchwomen set the college record for wins in a season, they finished second in the UCAA Tournament, finished ninth in the state event (after being seeded 12th) and earned the program's first-ever invitation to the Eastern College Athletic Conference's post-season tournament.
Union, which goes into this weekend's state event with a record of 20-7, enjoyed a 10-game win streak earlier this year and has beaten such perennial powerhouses such as Vassar, Skidmore, and St. Rose along the way.
Senior Corinn Jordan New Hyde Park, NY/Herricks) was named the UCAA “Player of the Week” for the second time this year as she helped the Dutchwomen to a second-place finish in last weekend's Skidmore Invitational. Jordan averaged 4.8 kills and 3.0 digs per game in the four matches. Jordan recorded three double-doubles and over 30 kills against Skidmore in the championship match and was selected to the All-Tournament team along with classmate Katie Lombardo (Albany, NY/Albany).
Junior setter Sara Pontius (Oneonta, NY/Oneonta) set a new Dutchwoman standard as she went over the 1,000-assist mark for the third consecutive season.
This weekend's state event is not the end of the season for the Dutchwomen. Next weekend (Nov. 8 & 9) Union will travel to Clarkson to compete in the annual UCAA championship. A solid showing in
that tournament should bring another postseason invitation to Union.