Volleyball Begins New Era This Weekend at Holy Cross

Friday, August 31

Worcester, Mass.

4:00 P.M.

Columbia

Rhode Island

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

Volleyball Begins New Era This Weekend at Holy Cross

8/30/2018 12:06:00 PM | Volleyball

Patriot League Network Live Stats Quick Facts Video: Volleyball Readies for Opening Weekend

Allison Keeley leads the Columbia volleyball program into its first tournament of the 2018 season, where the Lions will battle Rhode island, Holy Cross and Drake

NEW YORK — Under new leadership, the Columbia volleyball program begins its 2018 season with three matches across Friday and Saturday at the Holy Cross Invitational. The Lions open the season Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. against Rhode Island. A doubleheader against host Holy Cross (12 p.m.) and Drake (3 p.m.) is slated for Saturday.

Fans can follow the action by tracking the live stats for all three matches provided by Holy Cross. Saturday's game against the Crusaders will be live streamed on the Patriot League Network.

SEASON PREVIEW
Newly appointed head coach Allison Keeley will lead the Lions into the 2018 campaign. Keeley was hired in March as the seventh head coach of the program since the Columbia-Barnard Athletic Consortium began in 1983. Her experience spans the Atlantic Coast, Mountain West and BIG EAST conferences, including time as the head coach of Villanova (2001-03), UNLV (2004-10) and East Stroudsburg (2012-16).

"We have so much talent on this team," Keeley said. "Our two middles are probably two of the best in the conference and two of the best that I've ever coached. We've got some young kids who are new so we'll get to see how they play at the college level and step up to the challenge. Most of all, we're just looking for a little bit of tenacity and grit. You've got to fight through some of these early tournaments – some of the obstacles, some of the challenges – and find your groove. It'll definitely be fun and we're looking forward to it."

One of those returning middles is junior Chichi Ikwuazom, a New York native who was the 2016 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and garnered First Team All-Ivy League status in both 2016 and 2017. Ikwuazom has topped the league in both hitting percentage and blocks per set two years running and ranked among the top 30 in the NCAA in both categories last season. Her 110 blocks from 2017 rank fourth in program history.

"There have definitely been a lot of new things to learn," said Ikwuazom since the team reported two weeks ago. "We're working on a lot of different technical aspects for hitting, blocking and setting. We're working on a lot of defensive positioning and we think our defense is what will make our game this year. It's all a lot of new information, which we like."

Also returning for the Lions are all three captains from last season in senior outside hitters Luciana Del Valle, Natasha Kosowicz and Lauren Wilkins. Del Valle racked up 225 digs and 182 kills a season ago, ranking second and third on the team, respectively. Kosowicz also posted over 100 kills to go with 188 digs. Del Valle and Kosowicz combined for three Ivy League Weekly Honor Roll selections.

Other returning starters include sophomores Kaitlin Schultz and Audrey Cheng. Schultz was a force on the block in her first season totaling 44 to rank second behind Ikwuazom. Cheng was a two-time Ivy League Rookie of the Week selection, taking over the role as primary setter and going on to total 638 assists with an average of 8.86 per set. Starting libero Kalie Wood also returns for her junior season after ranking fifth in the Ivies last season with 354 digs and 3.89 per set.

A trio of first-years will be looking to assert themselves into the lineup. Setter Shari Stenglein, middle blocker Isa Lamus and outside hitter Emily Teehan all hope to make their collegiate debuts this weekend and all three have impressed since reporting to campus.

"I've gotten to know the team really well and the coaching staff is amazing," said Lamus, a Miami, Florida native. "We've been working really hard on our two-a-days and getting those details ready. We're ready to go for this weekend. It's going to be a good one."

THIS WEEKEND'S MATCHUPS

Rhode Island (0-3)
Date: Friday, Aug. 31 – 4 p.m.
Media: Live Stats
Series: Columbia leads 3-1
Last Meeting: Sept. 9, 2017 at URI (Columbia 3-0)

Team Leaders:
Kills: Natale Zanellato – 30 total, 3.00/set
Assists: Lauren Pick – 77 total, 7.70/set
Digs: Olivia Budinich – 44 total, 4.40/set
Blocks: Jenna McGuire – 9 total, 1.00/set
Aces: Lauren Pick – 2 total, 0.20/set

Rhode Island began its season by dropping all three matches last weekend at the Hilton Penn's Landing Temple Invitational. The Rams dropped nine of 10 sets played, squeaking out its only set against Temple. URI was otherwise handled by Loyola Marymount (25-18, 25-10, 25-19) and Hofstra (25-14, 25-15, 25-20). They are coming off of a 12-16 campaign in which they went 6-8 in Atlantic 10 play. Columbia swept the Rams last season in Rhode Island at the Art Carmichael Invitational. The Lions have won three of four matchups since the series began in 2011.

Holy Cross (0-4)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 1 – Noon
Media: Patriot League Network | Live Stats
Series: Columbia leads 2-0
Last Meeting: Sept. 25, 1998 at Columbia (Columbia 3-2)

Team Leaders:
Kills: Clare Honan – 30 total, 2.31/set
Assists: Kathleen Philo – 74 total, 5.69/set
Digs: Regan Wright – 45 total, 3.46/set
Blocks: Kristen Somerville – 12 total, 1.50/set
Aces: Regan Wright – 8 total, 0.62/set

Holy Cross traveled to California to play four matches at the Aggie Invitational hosted by UC Davis last weekend. However, the Crusaders came back winless, including three straight sweeps at the hands of Utah Valley, Nevada and UC Davis. They were able to salvage one set in their final match against Northern Arizona (12-25, 25-23, 12-25, 18-25), but that was all they could manage. Holy Cross is coming off a 5-24 campaign that saw them go 2-14 in Patriot League action. Saturday's matchup with the Lions will mark the first between the programs in 20 years, when Columbia topped Holy Cross in five at the 1998 Columbia Classic.

Drake (3-0)
Date: Saturday, Sept. 1 – 3 p.m.
Media: Live Stats
Series: First meeting

Team Leaders:
Kills: Cathryn Cheek – 26 total, 3.25/set
Assists: Paige Aspinwall – 48 total, 6.00/set
Digs: Kylee Macke – 44 total, 5.50/set
Blocks: Elle Tubbs – 12 total, 1.33/set
Aces: Natalie Fry – 7 total, 0.78/set

Drake was impressive in its opening weekend and enters the Holy Cross Invitational with an unblemished 3-0 record. The Bulldogs took all nine sets they played at the Sam Houston State Tournament, earning a hard-fought victory against the host Bearkats (26-24, 31-29, 25-20) before easily handling Bethune-Cookman (25-16, 25-19, 25-18) and Texas Southern (25-15, 25-15, 25-6). The season-opening title marked the fifth-straight year the Bulldogs have opened the season by winning a tournament. During those five seasons, Drake is 16-2 in season-opening tournaments. Last season, Drake went 23-10 overall with a 12-6 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference to finish fourth. Saturday will mark the first ever meeting between the programs.

WATCH ON ESPN
After the Ivy League announced its partnership with ESPN, all home and Ivy League volleyball matches are scheduled to be played on the ESPN family of networks this fall. To sign up for ESPN for as low as $4.99/month or $49.99/annually, and catch all the action this season click here.