Columbia University
Yale
Volleyball Takes Down Yale For First Time In 14 Years
10/31/2015 8:41:00 PM | Volleyball
NEW YORK – For the first time in 14 years, and only the fourth time in program history, the Columbia women's volleyball team (7-12, 5-5 Ivy) was able to take down Ivy League foe Yale as the Lions upset the Bulldogs, 3-2, in an intense five-set thriller on Saturday night.
The Lions have struggled historically against Yale, dropping their last 27 meetings with the Bulldogs dating back to a 3-1 victory on Nov. 10, 2001, but the Columbia offense prevailed for the Lions on Saturday. Heading into the match, Columbia held an all-time record of 3-41 against Yale.
In front of a crowd filled with Columbia volleyball alumnae, the Lions wasted no time in the opening set as they rallied behind the serve of Lanti Moye-McLaren who was able to lead Columbia to seven-consecutive points and take an early 12-3 lead.
From that point on it was all Columbia as the Lions' offense erupted to take a 25-9 first-set victory after holding the Bulldogs to a -.154 attacking percentage to seal the win. Columbia finished the first set with a .440 attacking percentage, committing only two errors.
The second set remained close, however, as both teams traded points until Yale was able to pull out to a 10-8 lead, forcing Columbia to use its first timeout. Coming out of the break, however, the Lions' offense came back alive as it went on a 4-0 run to take back the lead, 12-10.
Still trailing, the Bulldogs were able to respond midway through the set with a 5-0 run to take back the lead, 19-18, before a Kesi Neblett' kill could tie things back up at 19-19.
After battling back and forth, Anja Malesevic was able to send home a huge kill to give the Lions back the lead, 22-21, forcing Yale to use its final timeout of the set.
Despite a battle by the Bulldogs, Columbia would not relinquish its lead as it claimed set two, 25-23, to take a 2-0 advantage heading into the intermission.
Yale started to make things interesting in the early parts of set three, however, forcing the Lions to use a timeout with the Bulldogs out in front, 5-2. Despite a 3-0 run by the Lions midway through the set, Yale would not let go of its lead as it took set three, 25-18.
In set four, the Lions were able to jump out to an early 7-3 lead, but a 6-2 run by the Bulldogs tied things up at 9-9. The momentum carried for Yale as they took back the lead, 11-10, before holding on the rest of the way to take the set, 25-19, and force a deciding fifth set.
After dropping the last two sets, Columbia came out firing in set five as they opened things up on a 7-3 run to force a Yale timeout. While the Bulldogs were able to pull to within a point at 12-11, it was all Columbia as the Lions were able to prevail and take down Yale, 15-12.
Alex Reale (47 assists, 11 digs) and Katarina Jovicic (13 kills, 12 blocks) were both able to pick up double-doubles on the night while Anja Malesevic (15) and Bailey Springer (12) each contributed with double-digit kills.
With her 12 blocks against the Bulldogs, Jovicic now has 263 total blocks in her career, moving her into third place on the Columbia all-time blocks list ahead of Kristie Overton's (1993-96) previous mark of 252.
The Lions will return to action next weekend as they hit the road to take on Dartmouth (Nov. 6) and Harvard (Nov. 7) in the final two road matches of the regular season.
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