Chandler McGrath had 20 kills, including the 1,000th of her career, as Bates swept Hamilton 3-0 on Oct. 28, 2016. (File photo by Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College) 

LEWISTON, Maine -- Chandler McGrath tallied 20 kills, including the 1,000th of her career, and Taylor Stafford-Smith added 15 kills, 11 digs and three blocks as the Bates volleyball team swept Hamilton College 3-0 (25-20, 25-13, 26-24) Friday night in Alumni Gymnasium, clinching a berth in next week's NESCAC Championship tournament.

With one match left in the regular season (at home Saturday against Middlebury), Bates (10-13, 4-5 NESCAC) moved into a tie with Connecticut College for seventh place and ensured no worse than eighth place in the final New England Small College Athletic Conference standings. The Bobcats will play in the eight-team NESCAC tournament for the second year in a row. Bates' fourth NESCAC win this season is the team's most since going 4-6 in league play in 2004.

Hamilton (9-10, 2-7 NESCAC) will finish the season with a NESCAC match at Colby Saturday at 2pm.

McGrath (Seal Beach, Calif.), a senior captain and the team's kills leader in all four of her years at Bates, needed 15 kills at the start of the match to reach the 1,000 plateau. The match started as if her teammates were determined to help get her there. McGrath tallied eight kills in the opening set, and accounted for the Bobcats' last three points in a 25-20 set win.

Stafford-Smith (Calabasas, Calif.) dominated the second set with a variety of big swings and well-placed volleys, notching eight kills in the frame on nine attack attempts while also popping up five digs as Bates rolled to a 25-13 set win.

Hamilton came back to play its best volleyball in the third set, with 14 kills and four errors on 40 attempts (.250). After sitting out the first two sets, Kyndal Burdin passed out 13 assists in the set while Giuliana Rankin had six kills with no attack errors.

McGrath came up with eight more kills in the third set. The 1,000th in her career gave the Bobcats a 15-13 lead.

But the Continentals went up 22-20 on a Rankin kill, prompting Bates' first timeout of the match. Bates got the side out with a kill by sophomore Claire Naughton (Darien, Conn.), and Bates retook the lead at 23-22 with back-to-back kills by McGrath. Margaret O'Brien's kill tied the set at 24-all and returned serve to the Continentals. But Bates junior Lisa Slivken (New York, N.Y.) dropped a kill for the 25-24 lead, and a final big swing from Stafford-Smith sealed the victory for Bates, setting off a celebration on the court.

Rankin led Hamilton with 10 kills and just one attack error on 27 attempts (.333), adding three blocks. Erin Donahue added eight kills and Meghan Wilkinson had a double-double with 10 digs and 10 assists. Christine Zizzi had a team-high 12 digs and Kendall Searcy added 10 digs.

Junior Jacqueline Forney (Bloomington, Ind.) paced the offense with 45 assists, tying her season high. Naughton posted nine kills with no errors on 20 attempts (.450) and two blocks for the Bobcats, and Slivken added five kills. Senior Hannah Tardie (Orange, Calif.) led all Bobcats with 13 digs to go with five service aces. First-year Gabi Eustache (New York, N.Y.; 12 digs) and sophomore Lauren Brough (Killingworth, Conn.; 11) gave Bates four players with double-digit dig totals.

Bates is 6-1 at home this season, including six consecutive 3-0 victories, three of which came against NESCAC opponents.