HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. — Junior middle Chichi Ikwuazom combined to hit .420 with 27 kills to lead the Columbia volleyball team to a split on Saturday at the Hofstra Invitational. The Lions held off the tournament hosts in five (25-21, 25-21, 13-25, 17-25, 15-13) before succumbing to Seton Hall in three (13-25, 19-25, 17-25).
 
Ikwuazom went for 13 kills and hit .333 against Hofstra (9-4) and followed with 14 kills at a .550 clip against Seton Hall (5-7). The 6-1 New York native added a season-high five blocks against the Pride, helping Columbia put a halt to the home side's rally.
 
"Chichi always makes a difference," head coach Allison Keeley said. "It's nice to have a player that can get you out of trouble when you get in trouble. She's starting to hit her stride offensively after missing that first week and I think it's all uphill from here both for her and for the team."
 
Columbia (6-4) extended its winning streak to five straight matches after defeating Hofstra in the day's first match. The Lions hit .536 in the first set and took a two-set lead before Hofstra won the third and fourth sets to force a tiebreak. Columbia hung tough and showed resiliency, getting behind 6-1 in the race to 15 before rallying to take their first lead at 11-10 and go on to victory.
 
"I thought this was the highest level of volleyball we've played this season," Keeley added. "We started off great against Hofstra and it was great to see the fight and resiliency to come back and win that fifth set. These girls know what they're capable of and they made up their minds that they were going to get it done."
 
Seton Hall put an end to Columbia's winning streak, hitting .556 in the first set and .384 for the match to earn the sweep. Caitlin Koska led the Pirates with 12 kills.
 
Columbia has a week off from game action before starting Ivy League play next Saturday against Cornell. First serve from Levien Gymnasium is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
Match 1 Recap: Columbia 3 – Hofstra 2
Four Lions reached double figures in kills, led by 13 apiece from Ikwuazom and Teehan, as Columbia bent but did not break in a five-set victory over Hofstra (25-21, 25-21, 13-25, 17-25, 15-13).
 
Teehan and Audrey Cheng each posted double-doubles. The rookie went for a baker's dozen in both kills and digs, while Cheng quarterbacked Columbia's offense with 29 assists to go with 14 digs. The setter also added six kills, while Luciana Del Valle had 10 and Lauren Wilkins had 11.
 
Laura Masciullo was the story for Hofstra, posting a match-high 28 kills and registering her 1,000th career kill during the match. Michela Rucli and Aisha Skinner had 14 kills apiece with hitting percentages over .450 in the losing effort.
 
Columbia came out on fire offensively, posting its highest single-set hitting percentage of the season (.536) to win the opening frame. After the Pride jumped ahead 8-4, Rose Compton sparked the Lions with back-to-back blocks and Emily Teehan used a powerful back row attack to level the score 9-9. Luciana Del Valle proceeded with another kill to give the Lions the lead, which ballooned to four, 15-11, after an Ikwuazom blast completed a 10-3 run. Hofstra got as close as two but couldn't string enough together against Columbia's potent attack as the Lions took the first.
 
The Lions once again overcame an early deficit in the second set. Hofstra started with an 11-7 lead before Lauren Wilkins rattled off four kills as part of a 9-2 run to put Columba in front, 16-13. Wilkins wound up with five kills on eight swings in the set to help keep the Lions ahead. The Pride cut the margin to two, 20-18, but Teehan answered with a kill and Columbia pulled away late to go up two sets.
 
The third and fourth sets belonged to Hofstra. The Pride put down seven of their first eight attacks in the third and hit .708 to get on the board. Ivania Ortiz served out a 6-0 run as Columbia's serve-receive struggled to side out. The serve-receive let the Lions down through the early part of the fourth to allow Hofstra to go on top 10-3. Columbia tried to get back in the set behind back-to-back kills from Wilkins, including an overpass that the Pride mishandled to cut the lead to 16-11. Columbia got within four but it was too little too late, as the match headed to a deciding fifth.
 
Hofstra forced Columbia into an early timeout by sprinting out to a 6-1 advantage, but the Lions answered the bell and climbed all the way back. Grace Campbell and Kalie Wood came up with timely aces, with Wood's pulling Columbia in front, 11-10. Wilkins made it a two-point advantage with her final kill of the match and back-to-back blasts from Ikwuazom presented the Lions with two match points. Hofstra's Luisa Sydlik served the ball out to wrap up Columbia's fifth consecutive victory.
 
Match 2 Recap: Seton Hall 3 – Columbia 0
Seton Hall proved to be too much in what was Columbia's fourth match in a little more than 24 hours, combining to hit .384 and defeat the Lions in three sets.
 
Ikwuazom carried the Columbia offense with a match-high 14 kills and .550 hitting percentage. Del Valle was efficient with six kills (.357), but the rest of the team combined for just 10 kills and a negative hitting percentage. Kalie Wood led the effort on the ground with a match-high 10 digs.
 
Koska headed the Pirate attack with 12 kills. Meanwhile, Amanda Rachwal hit a perfect 6 for 6, Abby Thelen had seven kills at a .353 clip and Haylee Gasser hit .417 with six kills. Sophia Coffey had a match-high 22 assists on SHU's 43 combined kills.
 
The Pirates led early and often, using a 5-1 run to jump ahead 7-3 in the first and forcing Columbia to call its first timeout at 9-5. The Lions were doing well offensively, but Seton Hall was hitting well above .500. Columbia scored the next three points to get within one, but the serve-receive began to struggle and Seton Hall gained a 14-8 advantage. The Pirates went on to score 10 of the last 12 points to win the set.
 
Columbia led early in the second before Seton Hall used a 6-1 run to go up 9-6. The Lions got back within one on back-to-back kills by Ikwuazom and Cheng, 14-13, but the Pirates responded with five of the next six to regain a five-point cushion. The two sides traded points down the stretch as Seton Hall took a two-set lead.
 
The third set saw the most back-and-forth action of the match. The Lions scored four straight points with the help of a block and kill by Kaitlin Schultz to take a 9-8 lead. Schultz continued to provide a spark off the bench before Ikwuazom reentered and put the Lions up 12-11 with one of her four kills in the set. However, Seton Hall went on a run and the Lions had no answer, surrendering 14 of the final 19 points to snap their five-match winning streak.

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