NEW YORK — The Columbia volleyball team continued its home dominance with straight-set victories over St. Francis Brooklyn (25-19, 26-24, 25-12) and Fordham (25-19, 25-21, 25-12) on Friday in the Big Apple Battle.
 
With two wins to begin the 2018 home season, Columbia (5-3) improved its record to 20-5 (.800) in matches played inside Levien Gymnasium since the start of the 2016 season. The Lions have also won four of their last five home openers.
 
"That's a great tradition to have," Columbia first-year head coach Allison Keeley said. "I sure hope we keep playing that way. I think our team feeds off the energy from our fans. The crowd we had tonight was terrific."
 
Energizing the crowd was the combination of junior middle Chichi Ikwuazom and first-year outside Emily Teehan. Ikwuazom hit .545 with a match-high 14 kills against St. Francis (4-7) and followed it up with a match-high 13 kills and four blocks against Fordham (5-6). Teehan was equally impressive, hitting .476 with 12 kills and 10 digs against the Terriers before posting an errorless eight kills and eight digs in the nightcap.
 
"We started playing our game, taking really aggressive swings and being aggressive from the service line, which helped out a lot," Ikwuazom said. "We kept our serve-and-pass game strong and were able to run our offense the way we wanted."
 
Sophomore Kaitlin Schultz added to the day with six kills at a .417 clip with a career-high 10 digs against St. Francis. Classmate and setter Audrey Cheng snuck across six kills and hit .454 with 27 assists, 11 digs and four blocks against the Rams.
 
Columbia continues the weekend with two more matches on Saturday at the Hofstra Invitational. The Lions take on the Pride at 10:30 a.m., followed by a 3 p.m. matchup against Seton Hall.

Match 1 Recap: Columbia 3 – St. Francis 0
The Lions did not disappoint in their 2018 home opener, fighting off some St. Francis rallies but ultimately dropping the Terriers in straight sets (25-19, 26-24, 25-12). The win improved the Lions to 13-0 in the all-time series.
 
Ikwuazom led the way with 14 kills at a blistering .545 hitting percentage. The New York native hit .750 with six kills in the opening set and had six more at a .556 clip in the third to cement the victory. Meanwhile, Teehan backed her up by hitting .476 with 12 kills to help the Lions outhit SFC .294 to .152. The rookie added 10 digs to complete her third double-double.
 
Columbia also used its serve to create an advantage. Entering the weekend ranked 16th in the NCAA In aces per set (1.86), the Lions added to their serving prowess with eight aces, averaging 2.67 per set. Columbia totaled five aces in the first set alone and was led in the match by Wood's three. The libero also came up with nine digs.
 
A back-and-forth opening set saw Saint Francis come back from a 10-6 deficit to take a 12-11 lead. Keeley burned the team's final timeout at the midway point, but it was well used as the Lions responded to regain the advantage at 16-15. Teehan reared back for one of her five kills in the set to force SFC into using its final timeout, but it didn't slow the Lions down. Columbia ultimately scored 12 of the final 16 points on seven kills and two aces, including an ace by Cheng to clinch the opener.
 
The Lions created the first bit of separation in the second set when Kaitlin Schultz slammed home one of her six kills in the match to put the home side ahead 10-7. The Terriers rallied to tie it at 14, but Columbia went on a 10-3 run with three kills and an ace by Teehan to earn set point at 24-17. St. Francis didn't go down quietly, scoring the next seven points to tie the score, but Columbia called timeout and hung on. Del Valle stopped the bleeding with a kill and Compton finished off the set with an ace.
 
The third was all Lions after the second set seemingly took all the energy out of St. Francis. Columbia scored the first six points and never turned back, outhitting the Terriers .519 to 038 in the final frame to complete the sweep.
 
Match 2 Recap: Columbia 3 – Fordham 0
Friday's nightcap welcomed in a much larger crowd to Levien Gymnasium and they were treated to another spectacular performance. Columbia defended its home court in three sets (25-19, 25-21, 25-12) to earn a Friday sweep in the Big Apple Battle.
 
The Lions outhit Fordham .246 to .033 behind Ikwuazom's match-high 13 kills and four blocks. Teehan had eight kills (.364) without an error and added eight digs and an ace, while Cheng attacked at a .545 clip with six kills and no errors on 11 attempts. Meanwhile, five Rams players finished the night hitting in the negative. McKenna Lahr was the leading attacker with eight kills (.162).
 
Columbia went on a 6-1 run to jump out to a 10-5 lead in the first set. An ace by Cheng, her second of the day, capped the run and forced Fordham to call for time. The lead remained about a handful the rest of the way as Columbia got three kills apiece from senior Luciana Del Valle, senior Lauren Wilkins, Ikwuazom and Teehan. Del Valle turned it on late, putting down a kill to give the Lions six set points and clinching the set off an assist from Kalie Wood.
 
The second set was the. closest of the evening Columbia led 10-7 but called for time after three straight Rams points tied things up. Fordham wound up taking a lead as big as 15-12, but Columbia came right back and leveled things at 18 thanks to two big kills by Del Valle. Wilkins put the Lions back in front after the Rams burned their final timeout and Columbia never trailed again. Three straight points created separation before Ikwuazom and Cheng rose up for a block that sent McKenna Lahr's attack 15 feet backwards to go up two sets.
 
Much like the day's first match played out, the Lions dominated the third set. Ikwuazom got it started with a kill and Columbia never looked back, hitting .417 in the frame behind 17 kills, including six from Ikwuazom, four from Cheng and three apiece from Wilkins and Teehan. Del Valle dug six balls to thwart Fordham's attack and the Lions cruised to their fourth straight victory.

WATCH ON ESPN+
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