Lions Hit The Road For Final Weekend Of 2019; Visit Dartmouth And Harvard

Friday, November 15

Hanover, N.H.

7:00 P.M.

Columbia University

Dartmouth

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Steven Ryan

Lions Hit The Road For Final Weekend Of 2019; Visit Dartmouth And Harvard

11/14/2019 11:36:00 AM | Volleyball

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Columbia Volleyball will wrap up the 2019 season with a visit to Dartmouth Nov. 15 and a trip to Harvard on Nov. 16.

HANOVER, N.H. – With senior day in the review mirror, Columbia Volleyball (11-11, 2-8 IVY) heads out on the road for the final weekend of the 2019 season, with a visit to Hanover, New Hampshire to take on the Dartmouth Big Green (8-15, 2-8 IVY) on Friday, Nov. 15 (7 p.m.), before wrapping up the season with a trip to Cambridge, Massachusetts to take on the Harvard Crimson (5-16, 2-8 IVY), on Saturday, Nov. 16 (5 p.m.) in the final match of the season.

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

REVIEWING THE PREVIOUS WEEK: The Lions closed Levien Gym for the 2019 season with a pair of Ivy League matches over the previous weekend, and despite the Lions dropping both matches, the weekend was a chance to celebrate seniors Grace Campbell, Rose Compton, Kalie Wood and Chichi Ikwuazom in the final match of the homes schedule. In the first home match of the weekend, the Lions dropped a four-set match against Brown, which saw first-year Pierce Woodall go off for 24 kills, the most by a first-year since 2016, but the Lions fell to Brown in four sets.

On senior day, Ikwuazom put on a show, finishing with 17 kills, to go with her 18 she had against Brown, but the league-leading Bulldogs swept the Lions, 3-0, to wrap up Columbia's 2019 matches at home. During the match against Brown, Campbell, seeing significant playing time on senior day, was a smooth operator during the match, finishing with an Ivy League match season-high 14 assists.

SHRED THE BOOKS: Ikwuazom's record setting season, which is far from over, has been something to behold, as she has set a new single season program kills record and with every match moves up several all-time lists. But Ikwuazom's rewriting of the record books has not been a solo affair, as over the previous two weekends both Wood and junior Audrey Cheng grabbed a pen themselves and began to rewrite the books.

Wood, who currently sits at 1,050 career digs, recently passed the 1,000-career dig mark and in doing so placed herself fifth on the Lions all-time career digs list. Joining her teammate in setting new milestones was Cheng, who enters the weekend with 2,182 career assists, recently passed the 2,000-career assist mark and, following the previous weekend, now sits third on the Lion all-time career assists list.

IVY LEAGUE LEADERS: The Lions, along with Ikwuazom and Cheng, sit near the top of the conference in a handful of categories. As a team, Columbia is first in team assists (1,054) and team kills (1,120), while the Lions sit third in the league in assists per set (12.70), hitting percentage (.249) kills per set (13.49) and total attacks (2,782), while they are fourth in total digs (1,118).

As for Ikwuazom and Cheng, the Lion senior sits first in hitting percentage (.441), kills per set (5.46), total kills (453), total points (508.5) and points per set (6.13), and third in blocks per set (1.07). 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 total assists (801) and third in assists per set (9.77).

CHICHI ADDS TO THE CASE, AGAIN: Ikwuazom was again named the Ivy League Player of the Week for the fifth time this season, following her 48-kill two match performance over the weekend of Nov. 1-2. Ikwuazom, during the weekend, hit .506 while averaging 6.00 kills per set over the 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.

KILLING IT 900 TIMES: During the weekend of Oct. 26, in Columbia's lone match of the weekend, Ikwuazom reached 900 total kills for her career, becoming the fifth Lion in program history to reach that mark. The kill came on Ikwuazom's second-to-last kill of the match, on perfect set from Cheng who recorded the assist on the kill.

300 REASONS: Ikwuazom, who is in the middle of an extremely productive senior season, set a new mark for herself as she recorded her 300th career block against Yale on Oct. 18. Ikwuazom, who finished the weekend with 308 blocks in her career, became the fourth Lion in program history to reach the 300-block career mark and she currently sits second all-time on the all-time block list and she is only 17 blocks away from tying the program record of 337 blocks set by Kathy Lavold (2000-02).

IKWUAZOM MAKES HER MARK: Besides where she sits on the blocks list, Ikwuazom has also worked her way into several single-season and career marks in the Columbia record book. In kills, Ikwuazom, who currently has 984 career kills, sits fourth all-time in career kills.

Ikwuazom has already placed herself on the single-season total block list with 110 blocks in 2017, and she is on pace to finish in the top five of career total blocks, career total kills, and single-season total blocks, where with 89 blocks so far this season Ikwuazom has an opportunity to add her name for a second time to the single-season total blocks list. Ikwauzom has also placed her name on the single-match total kills list as well, having recorded 29 kills twice this season which are the fourth-most in program history in a single-match.

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 (6.13), third in hitting percentage (.441) and kills per set (5.46), 10th in total kills (453) and 10th in total points (508.5).

ROBICHAUD'S ROOKIE NOD: First-year Kiara Robichaud was 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 26 student-athletes to have recorded at least one triple-double so far this season.

WHAT THE BIG GREEN BRING: Dartmouth enters the match with the Big Green having faced Merrimack, in a mid-week match, on Wednesday, Nov. 13, in a match they won in straight sets, and the win snapped a four-match losing streak for Dartmouth. When factoring in Ivy League matches, the Big Green have lost three straight league matches, with Dartmouth's last Ivy League win coming against Harvard on Oct. 25 (3-0).

All-time Dartmouth holds a slight edge in the series between the two programs, with a 25-26 advantage over the Lions. In the first matchup between the two sides, the Lions took down the Big Green, 3-1, on Oct. 12 and a win on Friday, would be the first for the Lions in Hanover since 2016.

Offensively, the Big Green are led by Grace Wiczek's 170 kills, followed closely by Nicole Liddle's 166 kills, while Wizcek leads the team with 2.96 kills per set. In terms of who moves the Big Green offense, Makenzie Arent's 549 assists leads the team, while Francesca Meldrum's 72 total blocks is the force on the net for the Big Green's defense.

WHAT THE CRIMSON BRING: Harvard, who comes in having lost its previous two, will face Cornell on Friday, Nov. 15, before the Lions come into Cambridge to take on the Crimson on Nov. 16. Dating back to Oct. 25, the Crimson have lost four out of their previous five matches and three of those were Ivy League defeats.

In the first matchup of the 2019 season, the Lions swept the Crimson out of Levien Gym, on Oct. 11, and it was the second straight win at home for the Lions over Crimson. All-time the Crimson lead the Lions, 19-39, and a win for Columbia would be the first win since 2012 in Cambridge.

Mindie Mabry, who has a team-high 214 kills, leads the Crimson attack, while Bella Almanza's 402 assists leads the team and her 0.42 aces per set and 33 total aces leads the Ivy League. Sope Adeleye (66) and Ava Rauser (64) leads the defense up front with team blocks, while Sandra Zeng's 284 digs leads the team.

FOLLOWING THE LIONS: Stay up to date on all things Columbia Volleyball by following the Lions on Twitter (@CUVB), Instagram (@columbiawvball) and on Facebook (@ColumbiaAthletics).