Columbia University
Brown
Volleyball Aces Brown, Starts Ivy League 3-0 for the First Time
10/1/2016 9:05:00 PM | Volleyball
| Set Scores | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Brown | 23 | 17 | 22 |
| Columbia | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Stat Comparison | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Brown | Columbia |
| Attack Pct. | .169 | .162 |
| Kills/Errors | 37/15 | 36/17 |
| Aces/Errors | 3/11 | 10/3 |
| Digs | 59 | 63 |
| Blocks | 8 | 6 |
| Individual Leaders | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Brown | Columbia |
| Kills | Shirin Tooloee (10) | Anja Malesevic (12) |
| Assists | Sarah Lucenti (15) | Grace Campbell (32) |
| Digs | Melissa Cairo (26) | Cassie Wes (26) |
| Blocks | Jacqueline Jacobs (5) | Kesi Neblett (4) |
NEW YORK — For the first time in program history, the Columbia volleyball team is 3-0 in the Ivy League.
The Lions picked up their sixth consecutive victory with a three-set sweep of Brown (25-23, 25-17, 25-22) Saturday evening at Levien Gymnasium. The winning streak is Columbia's longest since posting a program-record nine straight wins in September of 2010.
“There are so many good things happening right now, but what I'm most proud of is we're not taking anything for granted and we're enjoying each match as it's played, no matter what happens,” said head coach Brie Katz. “Last night, we talked about getting enough sleep (following the match against Yale), recovering, and being ready to come in strong. They took it seriously and were prepared.”
Columbia (8-5, 3-0 Ivy) aced the Bears (3-10, 1-2 Ivy) 10 times and picked up another 11 points off Brown's service errors, making for a total of 21 points won from the service game. Seniors Cassie Wes and Sarah Gurbach, sophomore Natasha Kosowicz and first-year Grace Campbell each racked up two aces, while first-year Kalie Wood and junior Anja Malesevic contributed with one. Meanwhile, Brown had only three aces and earned just six total points from serve.
Six of Columbia's aces came in the first set. Campbell recorded the first two on the first points of the match and the Lions raced out to a 15-5 lead. They continued to hold a 21-12 advantage, however, Brown responded with a 10-2 run that forced Coach Katz to spend both her timeouts. The Bears pulled to within a single point, 23-22, but Melissa Cairo made a critical service error that gave Columbia double set point. The Lions were able to hang on with a kill from first-year Chichi Ikwuazom.
Columbia opened another large lead in the second set, but did not allow Brown to forge any sort of comeback. The Lions scored five straight to open up a 17-10 cushion, which included back-to-back aces from Wes. Brown only ever got within five before a kill from Malesevic and an attacking error from Shirin Tooloee gave Columbia the two-set lead.
After going up two sets on Yale Friday night and being pushed all the way to five, Coach Katz's team was determined to close out Brown in three. The two sides played to 14 ties and three lead changes in the third, the final tie coming at 20-20. Columbia won three of the next four points with two kills from Kosowicz and Brown never evened things back up.
Malesevic led Columbia with a match-high 12 kills and was the only Lion in double figures. Kosowicz was effective with nine kills at a .304 attack percentage, as was first-year Chichi Ikwuazom with eight kills at a .538 percentage. The trio combined for 29 of the team's 36 kills.
On defense, it was Wes who came through, once again. The reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year averaged more than eight digs per set on her way to a match-high 26. Combined with the 29 she totaled in Friday night's five-set victory over Yale, Wes ended the weekend with 55 digs and averaged 6.9 per set. She went into the week atop the Ivy League and 16th in the NCAA at 5.27 per set.
Campbell joined Wes in double figures with a season-high 14 digs and assisted 32 of Columbia's 36 kills for her second double-double in as many outings.
“It's a tall order to ask a freshman to come in and set a 5-1, and she is doing a great job,” Katz added on her first-year setter. “A ton of credit also belongs to our other setter, Madeleine Casey. Those two do a wonderful job in practice supporting each other and competing with each other. The team has done a great job helping Grace feel supported and she's making a lot of really smart decisions.”
Columbia puts its perfect Ivy League record on the line next weekend when it closes out the longest homestand in program history against Princeton and Penn. The Lions will face off in a battle of the league's two undefeated teams on Friday night against Princeton (2-0) at 7 p.m. Penn (2-1) follows on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Lions will have played 12 straight at Levien Gym from September 9 – October 8.
