Lions Knock Off Akron; Fall To Maryland

Saturday, September 18

College Park, Md.

10:30 a.m.

Columbia University

3-5,0-0Ivy League

Akron

6-5,0-0MAC

Columbia

Akron

Photo by: Columbia University Athletics/Mike McLaughlin

9/18/2021 10:22:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score (Akron; PDF)Box Score (MD; PDF)

Columbia Volleyball finished its weekend in College Park, with a 3-1 comeback win over Akron before falling in straight sets to Maryland.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — In the final non-conference action ahead of Ivy League play, Columbia Volleyball split a pair of matches, taking down Akron in comeback fashion, 3-1, before dropping their final match in straight sets to hosting Maryland on Saturday, Sept. 18 at the XFINITY Center Pavilion.

Columbia's record now sits at 3-6, as they turn their attention to upcoming Ivy League play. As for Maryland they finish the weekend remaining undefeated at 12-0, and Akron leaves College Park sitting at 6-6.

In terms of the day as a whole Noelle Foster was a driving force for the Lion offensively, finishing with 31 kills on the day. Defensively, the answer Columbia had each time was Shari Stenglein's unrelenting willingness to dive anywhere on the court for a dig, finishing with 37 over both matches, including a career-high 22 digs against Akron.

HOW IT HAPPENED: The day begun early for the Lions, as their match against Akron began Saturday's action at 10:30 a.m. The early start time might have been an explanation for Columbia's slow start out of the gate, but the Lions woke up almost immediately.

After dropping the first set, 25-22, in a tough battle that saw Columbia fight off set point two times down the stretch, the Lions responded by sweeping the next three sets. Almost like they knew what was needed, Columbia came out to start the second set on fire and focused, taking a quick 10-3 lead.

Led by Foster's five kills in the set, and Columbia's strong defense that held the Zips to .033 hitting, the Lions marched on their way to the second set win. It wasn't completely locked up at 21-15, but following a timeout from head coach Allison Keeley, Columbia powered through, only giving up two more points to Akron as they collected the final four points, they needed to come away with the 25-17 second set win, a win finished off by a kill from Foster.

Hitting .375, Foster again helped the Lions through the third set, and after it started rather close, a strong stretch of service from Stenglein helped get Columbia going. Mid-way through the set, Columbia was looking to pull away at 15-10, and despite a timeout by Akron at 18-11, the Zips had no answers for the Lions. The score clocked in at 21-15 and following a service error on Akron, Columbia's Lauren Cho finished things of, serving the final three points to give the Lions a commanding 25-15 third set win.

The Lions had eyes on finishing things off in the fourth set and Logan Harlock along with service from Vanessa Pan showed that the team was on the same page in that goal. With the score sitting at 6-4, Pan took to the line and over the next six points, Harlock would smash home five kills, all on assists from Cadence Gronski and it was not until a kill from Akron's Jen Durra, did Pan get bumped from the serve.

But by the time Akron could get Pan off the service line, Columbia was already leaving them in the rearview mirror, and thanks to Harlock's seven kills in just the fourth set alone, and a great response following a Keeley timeout late in the set, the Lions finished off the Zips for a 25-19 fourth set win and 3-1 win overall.

Later in the evening, after a long break, Columbia returned to action against the hosting Terrapins. Despite dropping the match in straight sets, against the undefeated side from Maryland, Columbia gave the Terrapins a fight. Both Foster (15) and Saj McBurrows (10) finished with double-digit kills on the match, and in all but the second set Columbia pushed things deep, reaching 20 points in both the first (21-25) and third sets (22-25).

Where Maryland was able to keep control of things was at the net, out blocking Columbia 10 to three, but the Lions held Maryland to their second-lowest hitting percentage of the season (.216) and on the weekend the Lions were the only team to score at least 20 points in more than one set of play.

WEEKEND NOTES: Foster had herself a weekend, finishing with 46 total kills … Gronski racked up 125 assists and has collected 336 total assists, the most in the Ivy League so far this season … Gronski's double-double (46 assists; 15 digs) against Stony Brook was her fourth double-double of the season … Stenglein quietly had a solid weekend, racking up 57 digs and her 3.44 digs per set ranks her ninth in the Ivy League … Columbia held Akron to under 20 points in all three winning sets, it was the first time the Lions have done that since sweeping Holy Cross (25-19, 25-19, 25-19) on Sept. 1, 2018.

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 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 returns home and opens Ivy League play when they host Cornell on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 2 p.m. That match will be streamed live on ESPN+ with live stats provided by Columbia Athletics.

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).