Lions Welcome Harvard And Dartmouth To Levien Gym

Friday, October 11

New York, N.Y.

7:00 P.M.

Columbia

Harvard

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Maryam K. Hassan

Lions Welcome Harvard And Dartmouth To Levien Gym

10/10/2019 12:49:00 PM | Volleyball

Live Stats (Harvard)Watch (Harvard)Live Stats (Dartmouth)Watch (Dartmouth)

Columbia Volleyball returns home to host Harvard (Oct. 11) and Dartmouth (Oct. 12) in the Ivy League opening matches at Levien Gym.

NEW YORK – Following the first Ivy League win of the 2019 season, Columbia Volleyball (8-5, 1-2 IVY) opens up Levien Gymnasium's slate of Ivy League matches with the Harvard Crimson (3-9, 1-2 IVY) and the Dartmouth Big Green (5-7, 1-2 IVY) coming to Morningside, with the Harvard match taking place on Friday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. and the match against Dartmouth scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 12 at 5 p.m.

HOW TO WATCH/FOLLOW
vs. Harvard – Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+) | Twitter (@CUVB)
vs. Dartmouth – Live Stats | Watch (ESPN+) | Twitter (@CUVB)

REVIEWING THE PREVIOUS WEEK: Columbia split its first doubleheader Ivy League weekend, falling in four sets at Princeton, on Oct. 4, before returning to winning form with a four-set victory at Penn on Oct. 5 to wrap up the weekend. Before the Lions hit the road for the weekend, they opened up the week with a Monday, Sept. 30 match at home when they hosted, and fell in four sets, Stony Brook.

During the week senior Chichi Ikwuazom was a force once again, racking up 67 total kills while hitting .514 over the three matches and was a key factor in the Lions staying in and winning the match they did. Joining Ikwuazom with a solid week was sophomore Emily Teehan who had at least 10 kills in all three matches, finishing with a total of 41 kills, while averaging 3.42 kills per set over the three-match stretch.

CHICHI ADDS TO THE CASE, AGAIN: For the fourth time this season, Ikwuazom was named the Ivy League Player of the Week following her 67-kill three match performance over the past week. Ikwuazom also hit .514 while averaging 5.58 kills per set over that stretch.

Ikwuazom has been filling up her trophy case over the first month of the season and she was named the Ivy League Player of the Week over the first three weeks, giving her three straight weeks from Sept. 9-23 where Ikwuazom held the title. And with this past week's nod Ikwuazom has now held the Ivy League Player of the Week mantle four out of the five times it has been handed out so far this season.

The Lion senior's performance has also gotten national attention as well, with Ikwuazom being named the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week, for the week of Sept. 23, following her three-match performance the weekend prior, where she racked up 81 total kills, averaged 5.79 kills per set and hit .470.

NATIONAL CHICHI: Entering the weekend, Ikwuazom remains ranked as one of the best in the nation on the offensive side, as she is second in points per set (6.39), third in kills per set (5.76) third in hitting percentage (.480), seventh in total points (326.0) and eighth in total kills (294).

IVY LEAGUE LEADERS: 13 matches into the 2019 season, and the Lions, along with Ikwuazom and junior Audrey Cheng, sit near the top of the conference in a handful of categories. As a team, Columbia is first in assists per set (12.67), team assists (646) and team kills (687).

The Lions have also been hitting near the top of the league, sitting second in hitting percentage (.263), kills per set (13.47), total digs (691) and total attacks (1,679). As for Ikwuazom and Cheng, the Lion senior sits first in hitting percentage, kills per set, total points, points per set and total kills and attacks per set (10.04). Cheng, not to be outdone, is the only student-athlete from the Ivy League to have recorded a triple-double this season and she sits second in the league in assists per set (9.57) and first in total assists (488).

ROBICHAUD'S ROOKIE NOD: First-year Kiara Robichaud joined Ikwuazom on the Ivy League award list, with Robichaud being named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week for the week of Sept. 23. That nod gave her two accolades over the first month of her collegiate career with a visit to the Ivy League Honor Roll coming on the week before.

CHENG TRIPLES UP: In Columbia's home opener against Fordham, on Sept. 19, Cheng had herself a night, recording 47 assists, 13 kills and 12 digs on her way to her first career double-double and the first by a Lion since Paula Lobeck recorded a triple-double on Sept. 17, 2002. Historically it was the ninth triple-double in program history and Cheng becomes the fourth Lion to ever record a triple-double.

Nationally, Cheng is one of 22 student-athletes to have recorded at least one triple-double so far this season.

WHAT THE CRIMSON BRING: Harvard enters the match against Columbia having snapped an eight-match losing streak with its first Ivy League win of the season when they took down Brown in straight sets on Oct. 5. The trip to Levien will be Harvard's third straight road match, having opened the Ivy League season at home, with a five-set loss on Sept. 28 against Dartmouth.

All-time the Crimson lead the series, 39-18, with the Crimson taking the previous matchup, 3-0, in a match played at Harvard. The last four matches played on Morningside the Lions have held home court, including the last match, on Sept. 29, 2018, where the Lions won 3-1.

As a team, Harvard ranks second in the Ivy League in blocks per set (2.04) and third in total blocks (96.0). The Crimson are hitting .208 and averaging 11.51 kills per set and 10.57 assists per set, as their blocking is the force that drives them on the court.

Mindie Mabry, who has a team-high 109 total kills on 2.32 kills per set, leads the Crimson offense, while right behind her with a hitting percentage of .234 and 93 kills is Evelyn Gray. Jaimie Rao also has 93 kills, while the assists have come from two places, with Ashley Wang's 235 leading the team and Bella Almanza's 211 also playing a key role in setting the offense. The blocks have come from Sope Adeleye's team-high 56, and she is averaging 1.19 blocks per set.

WHAT THE BIG GREEN BRING: After taking its Ivy League opener, in a five-set battle at Harvard (Sept. 28), Dartmouth dropped its next two (L, 1-3 at Brown; L, 1-3 at Yale) and enter the weekend on a two-match losing streak. The Big Green will face Cornell in Ithaca, New York on Oct. 11 before heading down to Morningside to face the Lions.

The all-time series between the two programs is close, with Dartmouth leading the series, 26-24, and the Big Green took the final matchup between the two sides in the 2018 season in straight sets. But the Lions did win the home 2018 match and have taken the previous three matches against Dartmouth at home.

Grace Wiczek (94 kills) and Nicole Liddle (92 kills) leads the offense for the Big Green, as Wiczek is averaging 2.85 kills per set and Liddle is averaging 2.24 kills per set. Makenzie Arent, who won the first two Ivy League Rookie of the Week awards, has been setting the offense for Dartmouth as she leads the team with 298 assists while averaging 7.10 assists per set. At the net, Francesca Meldrum leads the Big Green with 35 blocks while Bella Hedley's 163 digs leads the team.

Overall, the Big Green rank first in the Ivy League in digs per set (16.24) and attacks per set (36.10) and they sit 43rd in the nation in digs per set and 64th in attacks per set. Offensively as a whole, Dartmouth is hitting .177 while allowing opponents to hit .186, but where the Big Green have held an advantage is at the net where they have 83.5 total blocks to their opponents 74.

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