Volleyball Visits Harvard, Dartmouth on Final Weekend of Season
11/13/2014 12:23:00 PM | Volleyball
| Match Info Date First Serve Venue Video Stats Series Record Last Meeting Streak |
at Harvard Friday, Nov. 14 7 p.m. Levien Gymnasium Ivy League Digital Network Live Stats Columbia trails, 14-33 Oct. 11, 2014 (L, 2-3) L1 |
Match Info Date First Serve Venue Video Stats Series Record Last Meeting Streak |
at Dartmouth Saturday, Nov. 15 5 p.m. Levien Gymnasium Ivy League Digital Network Live Stats Columbia trails, 19-22 Oct. 10, 2014 (W, 3-1) W1 |
NEW YORK – The Columbia volleyball team will put a bow on the 2014 season this weekend as it makes one final road trip to Harvard and Dartmouth. The Lions will first visit Cambridge, Friday, Nov. 14 for a 7 p.m. match versus the Crimson before facing the Big Green Saturday, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m.
Ivy League Digital Network
Each of Columbia's 10 home matches and all the Lions Ivy League contests will be web streamed in HD quality featuring a live scoreboard and graphics through the Ivy League Digital Network. Fans who subscribe to the network can watch the Lions live or on-demand at Levien Gymnasium at their convenience. SideLion pass holders will also have access to all Columbia athletics events throughout the duration of their subscription. Fans can purchase their subscription at www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com.
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Lowdown on the Lions
Entering its final weekend Columbia looks to dig itself out of a eight-match losing streak hole that pushed the Lions to 7-14 overall and 3-8 in Ivy League.
Continuing to be a force offensively for the Lions is Bailey Springer who contributes the third-best kills in the conference (3.35). Her classmate Katarina Jovicic, meanwhile, boasts a team-best hitting clip of .328 that lands fifth in the league and adds 2.04 kps. First-year Anja Malesevic matches Jovicic's kills per set (2.04) while sophomore Zoe Jacobs also chips in over 2.00 kps with 2.18. Jennifer Petrovich has handled the Lions setting duties all season long and the sophomore posts the third-best aps average in the conference (9.92)
Defensively the Lions receive a conference-high 1.09 bps from Jovicic and 4.16 dps from Charlee Dyroff.
Catching Up on the Crimson
Harvard enters play this weekend in a share of first place in the Ivy League with an identical 10-2 mark with Yale. The Crimson currently lead the conference in four statistical categories, including kills (13.64), hitting percentage (.246), blocks (2.22) and points (17.1). Individually, two Crimson sit atop the conference rankings as Caroline Walters' .405 bps and Corinne Baine's 0.48 aces per set lead the way. Bain also leads Harvard's offense with 2.64 kps while the Crimson defense receives 4.37 dps from Sindhu Vegensa and 1.08 bps from Caroline Holte.
Inside the Series with Harvard
The Crimson earned a 3-2 victory over the Lions when the team's first met this season in the Big Apple to push the all-time series back to 14-34. In the setback that sparked Columbia's current losing skid, the Lions totaled 21 blocks including a career-high from Kesi Neblett.
More Reading: Volleyball Goes the Distance with Harvard and Falls, 3-2
Breaking Down the Big Green
Dartmouth has lost six straight to dip to 13-10 on the year, 4-8 Ivy League.
Paige Caridi paces the Big Green attack with 3.10 kps, the fifth-highest average in the league, as Emily Astarita contributes the seventh-best with 3.06 kps. Stacey Benton sits with with 6.13 aps while Julia Lau's 3.59 dps are good for ninth.
Inside the Series with Dartmouth
In their 42nd meeting, Columbia looks to sweep its 2014 series with Dartmouth after coming back to take down Big Green 3-1 in NYC Oct. 10. Despite the victory, the Lions continue to trail the all-time series that dates back to 1988, 19-22.
More Reading: Volleyball Comes Back to Defeat Dartmouth, 3-1, Stretches Home Win Streak to Five
Last Time Out
Columbia dropped a hard fought four-set match to Brown Saturday at Levien Gymnasium. The loss came by set scores of 25-14, 23-25, 22-25 and 22-25.
Prior to the match Columbia honored the record-setting career of senior Charlee Dyroff.
Junior Katarina Jovicic paced Columbia with 11 kills of a .348 hitting percentage while her classmate Bailey Springer also added double-digits with 10 kills. Jennifer Petrovich led the Lions to a .242 hitting clip as the sophomore dished out 43 assists to move into fifth place on Columbia's career assist list with 1,437 displacing Kelsey Mussleman's '12CC 1,425 figure.
The Lions' defense combined for five blocks and 56 digs to hold Brown to a .186 hitting percentage.
More Reading: Volleyball Drops 3-1 Match to Brown on Senior Night
Record Breaker
For the second time this season a Lion broke into Columbia's all-time record book. This time it was Jennifer Petrovich as the setter dished our 43 assists against Brown Nov. 8 to bring her career total to 1,437, displacing Kesley Mussleman's '12CC 1,425 figure. The sophomore looks to etch her name in the Lions' season annals this weekend as she only needs eight handouts to tie Sarah Ray's fifth-place season mark of 772 and nine to break it.
Earlier this season Charlee Dyroff wrote her name in Columbia's career digs list. The libero's milestone match was Oct. 11 against Harvard when she turned in 18 digs to push her total to 839 and push Cindy Chen '11CC's 829 digs to sixth place. Currently Dyroff sits fourth with 926.
Block Party
Columbia has dominated the net this season and most recently posted 21 total blocks against Harvard, Oct. 11, the most since recording 32 versus Princeton in 1991. The Lions have turned in double-digit blocking totals four times this year to lead post the second-best blocks per set average in 2.09.
Katarina Jovicic has been a staple at the net for Columbia as the junior leads the league and team with 1.09 bps. Kesi Neblett is not far behind as the sophomore posts the ninth-best average among the Ivies (0.87 bps).
High Percentage
Katarina Jovicic hit a season-high .571 in the team's 3-2 setback at Connecticut, registering eight kills on 14 attempts with no errors. Jovicic's career-best hitting clip of .583 came Sept. 14, 2012 against Colgate (17-324). Currently the middle hitter ranks fifth in the Ivy League with a .328 hitting percentage and has hit over .300 in 14 outings. The Lions rank fourth in the conference with a .200 percentage.
Setting It Up
As the Lions' primary setter, Jennifer Petrovich has dished out the third-best assists per set average in the league with 9.92 handouts to lead Columbia to a .200 hitting percentage, which lands fourth in the Ivy League.
Seeing Double
A quartet of Lions have each contributed double-double performances this season; Atlanta Moye-McLaren, Jennifer Petrovich, Bailey Springer and Zoe Jacobs. Petrovich leads the way with five this year to bring her career total to 17.
| Name Atlanta Moye-McLaren Jennifer Petrovich Bailey Springer Zoe Jacobs |
2014 Double-Doubles 3 7 4 2 |
Career Double-Doubles 13 16 12 2 |
All-Tourney
Atlanta Moye-McLaren was named Most Valuable Player at the Columbia Invitational and classmate Katarina Jovicic earned a spot on the all-tournament team after the duo helped the Lions go 3-0. Jovicic picked up her second all-tournament team accolade of the season when the middle hitting was selected to the UConn Classic team Sept. 20.
Hall of Famer
Columbia volleyball will see its first former player inducted into the Columbia University Athletics Hall of Fame this October as Kathy Lavold '03BC has been bestowed the honor. The three-year letterwinning middle blocker etched her name throughout the Lions' record book and was a crucial member of Columbia's winningest season in 2000.
More Reading: Hall of Fame Series: Kathy Lavold '03BC
