Volleyball Welcomes Four Teams for Lion Invitational Friday & Saturday
9/15/2016 12:15:00 PM | Volleyball
| DATE | Friday, September 16 |
| TIME | 10:30 a.m. |
| VENUE | Levien Gymnasium |
| LOCATION | New York, N.Y. |
| MEDIA | WATCH | LIVE STATS |
| TWITTER HANDLES | @CUVB @GoColumbiaLions |
| DATE | Friday, September 16 |
| TIME | 7:30 p.m. |
| VENUE | Levien Gymnasium |
| LOCATION | New York, N.Y. |
| MEDIA | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS |
| TWITTER HANDLES | @CUVB @GoColumbiaLions |
| DATE | Saturday, September 17 |
| TIME | 10:30 a.m. |
| VENUE | Levien Gymnasium |
| LOCATION | New York, N.Y. |
| MEDIA | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS |
| TWITTER HANDLES | @CUVB @GoColumbiaLions |
| DATE | Saturday, September 17 |
| TIME | 7:30 p.m. |
| VENUE | Levien Gymnasium |
| LOCATION | New York, N.Y. |
| MEDIA | LIVE VIDEO | LIVE STATS |
| TWITTER HANDLES | @CUVB @GoColumbiaLions |
NEW YORK — The Columbia volleyball team will welcome UMBC, Providence, Hartford and Fordham to Levien Gymnasium on Friday and Saturday for the Lion Invitational. The tournament will feature eight matches, four scheduled for each day, with start times of 10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m.
Competition begins Friday morning with Columbia (2-4) taking on UMBC (7-3). The Retrievers remain on the court to play their second and final match of the tournament against Providence (9-2). Hartford (3-7) and Fordham (6-5) square off in the 4:30 match, before Columbia retakes the court for the nightcap against the Friars.
Saturday morning's contest features Columbia and Hartford. Providence plays back-to-back in the two afternoon matches against Fordham and Hartford, before the tournament concludes Saturday night when Columbia battles Fordham.
All eight matches will be streamed live on the Ivy League Digital Network.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE:
Friday
|
Away Team |
Home Team |
Time |
Media |
Postgame |
|
UMBC |
Columbia |
10:30 a.m. |
Box |
|
|
Providence |
UMBC |
1:30 p.m. |
Box |
|
|
Hartford |
Fordham |
4:30 p.m. |
Box | |
|
Providence |
Columbia |
7:30 p.m. |
Box |
Saturday
|
Away Team |
Home Team |
Time |
Media |
Postgame |
|
Hartford |
Columbia |
10:30 a.m. |
||
|
Fordham |
Providence |
1:30 p.m. |
Box |
|
|
Providence |
Hartford |
4:30 p.m. |
Box |
|
|
Fordham |
Columbia |
7:30 p.m. |
Box |
SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS:
UMBC (7-3)
The Retrievers enter the tournament having won five of their last six matches, but saw their five-match winning streak snapped in their last outing, falling to Robert Morris in five sets. Prior to the loss, UMBC had defeated Akron, Loyola (Md.), Delaware State, Morgan State and Winthrop, dropping just two sets combined through those five matches.
Stat Leaders:
- Kills: Abbie Mirabella (133 kills, 4.03 kills/set)
- Assists: Claudia Lopez (286 assists, 10.21 assists/set)
- Digs: Kristin Watson (135 digs, 3.97 digs/set)
- Blocks: Emily Panchak (19 total blocks, 0.61 blocks/set)
Providence (9-2)
The Friars won nine consecutive matches before stumbling in five sets at home against Quinnipiac on Saturday. In their nine-match winning streak, Providence dropped a combined five sets, posting an impressive sets record of 27-5. Those wins came in succession against Manhattan, UMass Lowell, St. Peter's, Lehigh, Lafayette, Farleigh Dickinson, Brown, Holy Cross and La Salle. Lehigh and Brown each pushed Providence to five sets.
Stat Leaders:
- Kills: Megan Onyundo (97 kills, 2.85 kills/set)
- Assists: Chicyia Clark (352 assists, 9.51 assists/set)
- Digs: Michelle Cruz (194 digs, 4.85 digs/set)
- Blocks: Allison Impellizeri (42 total blocks, 1.24 blocks/set)
Hartford (3-7)
The Hawks dropped five straight matches to begin the campaign, but responded with three consectuive five-set victories over Manhattan, CCSU and Niagara. In the two matches since, Hartford has fell in three sets to Army and Dartmouth, making six of their seven losses coming in just three sets.
Stat Leaders:
- Kills: Paulina Modestow (121 kills, 3.18 kills/set)
- Assists: Astrid Mangual (321 assists, 8.45 assists/set)
- Digs: Megan Scherer (85 digs, 2.24 digs/set)
- Blocks: Jenna Bridges (35 total blocks, 0.92 blocks/set)
Fordham (6-5)
The Rams are coming off back-to-back three-set victories, including one over St. Peter's on Wednesday night in the Bronx. Fordham has had an up-and-down season to this point, beginning the year 3-1 before dropping four of five to fall to 4-5. The Rams are now back above .500 after sweeping Presbyterian in their final game of a tournament at Northeastern, followed by Wednesday's sweep of St. Peter's.
Stat Leaders:
- Kills: Olivia Fairchild (175 kills, 4.07 kills/set)
- Assists: Maddy Walsh (434 assists, 10.09 assists/set)
- Digs: Morgan Williams (172 digs, 4.00 digs/set)
- Blocks: Elise Benjamin (33 total blocks, 0.80 blocks/set)
INSIDE THE SERIES:
UMBC
- Series Record: First Meeting
Providence
- Series Record: Columbia leads 2-0
- First meeting: Sept. 23, 2006 at Sacred Heart (W, 3-0)
- Last meeting: Sept. 3, 2011 at San Francisco (W, 3-0)
- Current Streak: Columbia W2
Hartford
- Series Record: Hartford leads 7-4
- First meeting: Oct. 29, 1988 at Columbia (L, 2-3)
- Last meeting: Sept. 26, 2009 at Columbia (W, 3-1)
- Current Streak: Columbia W2
Fordham
- Series Record: Columbia leads 7-4
- First meeting: Sept. 29, 1988 at Columbia (W, 3-0)
- Last meeting: Sept. 14, 2013 at Columbia (W, 3-1)
- Current Streak: Columbia W1
COLUMBIA NOTES:
BLOCK PARTY: First-year Chichi Ikwuazom registered an impressive 10 blocks in Columbia's three-set victory over Manhattan last Friday (Sept. 9) ... Ikwuazom came two blocks shy of the all-time program record for a single match, set by Anastasia Yatrakis in 1995 and matched by Katarina Jovicic last season ... Ikwuazom's performance ties for the sixth-most blocks in a single match in program history, as three others are tied for third with 11 blocks.
WES DIGGING UP THE LIST: Senior libero Cassie Wes enters the tournament with 949 career digs and is 51 shy of becoming the fourth Lion in program history to reach 1,000 ... During last weekend's tournament, Wes broke inside the program's all-time top five, surpassing Cassie Bryan's 905 digs from 2000-03 ... The last Lion to reach 1,000 was Megan Gaughn with 1,065 from 2009-12 ... The program's career digs record is 1,408, held by Ellie Thomas (2006-09).
YOUTHFUL LIONS: Columbia boasts a lot of youth with 11 underclassmen on its roster of 16 ... The largest class is the freshman class with six, all of whom made their collegiate debuts in the season-opening tournament at San Francisco (Sept. 2-3).
