Columbia
HARVARD
Volleyball Goes the Distance with Harvard and Falls, 3-2
10/11/2014 10:12:00 PM | Volleyball
Box Score
NEW YORK - The Columbia volleyball team went the distance with Harvard in a back-and-forth affair Saturday night at Levien Gymnasium, but the Lions could not outlast the Crimson and fell, 2-3. The setback came by set scores of 23-25, 29-27, 19-25, 25-17 and 15-17.
Columbia (7-7, 3-2 Ivy League) counted on its defense at the net to remain in each set as the Lions totaled 21 blocks the most since posting 32 in three sets versus Princeton in 1991. Sophomore Kesi Neblett led Columbia's blocking charge with a career-high 10 as junior Katarina Jovicic matched her career-best with nine. Classmate Atlanta Moye-McLaren also turned in a career-first with eight blocks.
Another defensive record fell Saturday night as Charlee Dyroff moved into fifth-place on the Lions' all-time digs list. The senior captain recorded 18 digs to push her total to 839 displacing Cindy Chen '11CC's 829 figure.
Bailey Springer poured in a season-high 22 kills on a .242 clip to lead a trio of Lions with double-digit kill efforts. The junior also contributed seven digs and five blocks. Moye-McLaren scored 14 kills, hitting .355 on the night, to record the 12th double-double of her career. Jovicic, who hit .471, notched 10 kills to round out Columbia's threesome with double-digit kills.
Corinne Bain's triple double effort (16 kills, 43 assists, 12 digs) paced Harvard's (10-4, 3-2 Ivy League) attack with Paige Kebe and Caroline Walters adding 22 kills and 12 kills, respectively.
Columbia wasted no time to open the first frame and jumped out to a 10-4 lead. The run featured three blocks by Jovicic and two from Moye-McLaren. The Lions continued to roll and held a 15-11 edge at the midway point. Harvard chiseled away at Columbia's lead and pulled within two where the score stayed until 22-20 when the Crimson called a timeout. Out of the break, the visitors rallied and tied the first set at 22 before taking the lead on the ensuing point. A kill by Springer brought the Lions within one, 23-24, but the Crimson scored back-to-back kills to take the set, 23-25.
See-saw action dominated the second stanza which featured eight lead changes and 18 ties. Neither team could build a run, but kills from Springer and Moye-McLaren gave Columbia a 17-15 lead. The squads continued to trade points an attack error leveled the score for the final time at 27 before a block by Moye-McLaren and Jovicic regained the lead for the Lions, 28-27. Moye-McLaren put the set away for Columbia, 29-27, with her third kill of the set.
Following a back-and-forth opening to the third frame, the Lions fell behind, 15-17. The deficit blossomed to four-points, 16-20, before the Crimson claimed the set, 25-19.
The fourth frame opened with Columbia behind 2-6. A 7-3 stretch by the Lions equalized the set, 9-9, before a block by Springer and Jovicic gave Columbia a 12-11 lead. Another 7-3 run lengthened the hosts' advantage to 19-14. Columbia went on to tally six of the final nine points to win the set, 25-17, and force a fifth.
Harvard opened an 8-3 advantage in the fifth and deciding frame before Columbia used a 6-3 spurt to pull within two, 9-11. The Crimson jumped out to a three-point lead, but the Lions surged back with two kills from Springer sandwiched between a Harvard attack error to knot the score at 13. The teams swapped points for the remainder of the match before the Crimson notched a kill and capitalized on a Lions error to take the match, 17-15.
Columbia returns to the court next weekend when it travels Brown and Yale. The Lions will met the Bears Friday, Oct. 17 at 7 p.m., before visiting the Bulldogs Saturday, Oct. 18 at 5 p.m.
