NEW YORK — Four Lions recorded double-figure kills, led by first-year Emily Teehan's season-high 17, as the Columbia volleyball team earned its first Ivy League victory of the season over Dartmouth (25-23, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18) Friday night at Levien Gymnasium.
 
Columbia (7-5, 1-1 Ivy) split the first two sets of the night before taking control of the match in the third. Teehan was the catalyst, pumping in a set-high six kills on seven attempts as the Lions hit .355 and scored six of the final eight points to take a 2-1 lead. That momentum catapulted Columbia to an 11-3 start in the fourth, where the Lions totaled seven of their 14 blocks to hand Dartmouth (5-7, 1-1 Ivy) its first league loss.
 
"We felt really good about this match. It was a full team effort tonight and we were really happy to rebound from last week," said Columbia head coach Allison Keeley, who picked up her first Ivy League victory. "We showed some mental toughness and fought hard. It was a great match."
 
Teehan added 10 digs and joined senior Luciana Del Valle (10 kills, 15 digs) as the two Lions with double-doubles. She also had the jump serve working, picking off Dartmouth for three aces to take over the Ivy League lead with 17 on the season.
 
"We focused a lot fulfilling our roles on the team during practice this week," said Teehan, who racked up her sixth double-double in her first 12 collegiate matches. "Everyone has a job they need to fulfill and I think tonight everyone took what we talked about all week in practice and applied it to their game. We really supported each other on the floor."
 
Junior middle Chichi Ikwuazom powered home 16 kills, hit .370 and rose up for a season-high eight blocks. Senior outside Lauren Wilkins tallied a dozen kills and Del Valle completed the double-figures group with 10. Del Valle's 15 digs led all players while junior libero Kalie Wood went for 12. Sophomore setter Audrey Cheng recorded season-highs in both assists (46) and blocks (5) and junior middle Rose Compton also posted a season-high in blocks with six.
 
For Dartmouth, Mallen Bischoff had a team-high 16 kills to go with eight digs and four blocks. Elise Petit reached double digits with 10 kills and came a dig away from a double-double. Tola Akinwumi and Francesca Meldrum led the Big Green with six blocks apiece.
 
The two sides looked dead even through two 25-23 opening sets. Columbia held on after leading 24-19 to win the first, while Dartmouth scored the final three points of the second to overtake the Lions and even up the match.
 
Teehan and Ikwuazom pushed Columbia through the third with Teehan posting six kills and an ace to Ikwuazom's five kills and three blocks. The two sides were tied 10 times, but the Lions scored five straight to up 23-18 before clinching the set on Ikwuazom blast. Dartmouth simply had no answer in the fourth as the Lions dominated throughout to get in the Ivy League win column.
 
Columbia welcomes in Harvard, looking for a weekend sweep on Saturday. First serve at Levien Gymnasium is slated for 5 p.m.

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+ 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.