Columbia
Penn
Late Effort Falls Short As Lions Fall To Penn, 3-0
11/13/2015 8:35:00 PM | Volleyball
NEW YORK – A late rally by the Columbia volleyball team (7-15, 5-8 Ivy) fell short on Friday night as the Lions were swept by Ivy League foe Penn (12-13, 6-7 Ivy) at home.
Penn came out attacking in the opening set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead to force Columbia to use its first timeout early in the match. With the Quakers still holding on to a 21-10 lead, the Lions began to attack behind the swing of Zoe Jacobs as they took five of the next seven points, but it was not enough as the Penn grabbed set one, 25-16.
Columbia bounced back in set two, keeping pace with the Quakers as both teams traded points through the first half of the set. With the score knotted up at 20-20 in a set that saw 14 ties and had not been separated by more than two points, the Quakers were able to pull away with the next three points before the Lions could respond to pull two within a pair at 23-21. Unfortunately that would not be enough as Penn claimed set two, 25-23, to take a 2-0 advantage.
Trailing 8-3 in set three, the Lions offense began to rally as it fired on an 8-3 run to tie things up at 11-11. From that point on, Columbia was able to remain within four points of the Quakers but could not claim a lead as Penn went on to win the set, 25-21.
Anja Malesevic led the Lions with 10 kills, all of which came in the final two sets, after finishing the match with a .476 attacking percentage. Katarina Jovicic and Zoe Jacobs each picked up eight kills in the match while Natasha Kosowicz posted up seven kills and seven digs for the Lions.
The Lions will round out the 2015 season on Saturday as they host Princeton at 7 p.m. on the Ivy League Digital Network. Prior to the game, the team will honor its five graduating seniors for Senior Day as they take the court one final time.
