Columbia Splits The Day; Takes Down Iona But Falls To Seton Hall

Saturday, September 11

New York, N.Y.

1:00 p.m.

Columbia University

2-3,0-0Ivy League

Iona

1-6,0-0MAAC

Iona

Columbia

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

Columbia Splits The Day; Takes Down Iona But Falls To Seton Hall

9/11/2021 10:39:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score (IONA;PDF)Box Score (SHU;PDF)

Columbia Volleyball beat Iona, 3-1, before falling to Seton Hall, 3-0, in the final day of the Big Apple Tournament.

NEW YORK — On the final day of a busy weekend on Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium, Columbia Volleyball split a pair of matches, taking down Iona (3-1) before falling to Seton Hall in straight sets, giving the Lions a 2-1 record during the weekend's Big Apple Tournament.

Columbia's win and lose puts their record at 2-4, while Iona's loss to Columbia put them at 1-6 and the win for Seton Hall gives them a 7-3 record as they head off for the rest of their season. Overall Columbia's record against Iona improves to 12-1, while against Seton Hall the Lions are still looking for their first win all-time.

On the day, Noelle Foster was a force for the Lions, collecting 28 kills over the two matches, hitting .400 percent on the day. Cadence Gronski continued her strong start to her collegiate career, collecting 75 assists and against Seton Hall, she finished with 11 digs to go along with her 27 assists for yet another double-double. Another bright spot for the Lions, was the return of Emily Teehan, who in her first busy day of the season, finished with 24 kills, 15 of which came against Iona.

HOW IT HAPPENED: Against Iona, the Lions faced a challenge, needing to hold off the Gaels after winning the first set, before dropping the second. But Columbia would be up to the task, winning the final two sets for the four-set win.

The tone was set by Columbia in the opening set against Iona, where right away it seemed that Iona might be in charge. Over the first seven points, Iona rolled taking a quick 6-1 lead. But a timeout from head coach Allison Keeley did the trick, and when Shari Stenglein took to the serve, she showed why she has quickly become the rally starter for Columbia.

Stenglein held serve from 4-7 to 9-7, flipping the score in the process for Columbia, in a stretch that saw Teehan rip back-to-back kills on sets from Gronski. From there, thanks to .324 hitting from the team during the set, Columbia would roll to a 25-15 first set win.

During the second set Iona controlled the action from roughly midway through and would eventually win 25-13, tying up the overall match score at 1-1.

Momentum was up the air heading into the third set, and over the opening rallies, Columbia took the momentum by the neck. Strong serving from Vanessa Pan and Stenglein, along with four kills over 10 points by Kiara Robichaud helped push Columbia ahead for good in the set as they sat at 12-5 after a Robichaud kill put a bow on the stretch.

Down the stretch, Iona did get within three points of Columbia, getting a kill from Makenna Casper to put the score at 20-17. But, unlike the previous weekend, the Lions had a response and that came from the powerful swing of Teehan as she had three big kills over the final six points, including the winner, to give the Lions a 25-20 set win and a 2-1 advantage in the match.

The match entered the fourth, and what would be final set, and Columbia saw the finish line and sprinted straight to it. As the set rolled on, Columbia got to 9-7 and brought on Lauren Cho. She rolled on the serve and thanks to a pair of kills from Teehan over six points, the Lions pushed the score to 14-8.

Columbia made it to 16 points before Iona reached 10, and over the final 15 points, Iona only scored five as yet another Lion stepped up. This time it was Isa Lamus who smoked three kills over the stretch to help Columbia, who hit .222 on the set, while holding Iona to -.098 percentage, to a 25-15 set win and a 3-1 overall win.

Later in the evening, Columbia returned to action, this time against Seton Hall, The Pirates, who dropped only one set over three matches on the weekend, controlled the action from the first set and would come away with the straight set win. Despite Seton Hall's strong presence at the net, Foster still a force, collected a match-high 12 kills on .294 hitting for the Lions' lone hitter in double-digit kills.

Gronski's double-double added another bright spot to the match, but despite the loss to Seton Hall, Columbia's weekend was solid. With strong performances over the three matches.

ALL-TOURNAMENT: Pan and Foster's strong performances over the weekend, Foster finished with 44 kills (.419 hitting percentage) over the weekend and Pan added 45 digs, earned them Big Apple Tournament All-Tournament honors.

VENUE POLICIES: Volleyball spectator attendance will be restricted to a limited pass list only due to University COVID protocols and in accordance with NYC Executive Order 225.

If you are Columbia fan, fully vaccinated and would like to attend a volleyball game this fall, please contact Assistant Volleyball Coach Julia Anderson at (914) 960 - 3971 or by email at ja3445@columbia.edu to get on the Volleyball guest list. You must be on the guest list to be able to attend a volleyball game at Levien Gymnasium before the game you would like to attend. There is limited availability for each home contest.

NEXT UP: Columbia remains busy next weekend, with another tournament and three matches, the third straight weekend with three matches. This time the Lions will visit College Park, Maryland to take part in the Maryland Tournament. The weekend begins on Sept. 17 with a match against Stony Brook, before concluding on Sept. 18 with a morning match against Akron before finishing the weekend against hosting Maryland in the evening.

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