NEW YORK — Columbia volleyball (3-3) knocked off Manhattan (0-7) in straight sets before falling to St. Francis Brooklyn (5-6) in straight sets to split the action on the final day of the Big Apple Tournament hosted on Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium.
 
The Lions got a 16-kill performance from Logan Harlock in the win over Manhattan and she added nine kills against St. Francis (BK) for 25 total kills on the day. 35 assists from Ruby van der Heide in the opening match against Manhattan set the Columbia offense that hit .302 and held Manhattan to .104 in a dominating performance.
 
"We're very proud of our process and our women this weekend," said head coach Patric Santiago. "We look forward to the opportunity to get back into our practice gym to help make each other better. Our goal was to get better this weekend and we feel like we did. We knew coming in that regardless of what our record would be, we would need to come in Monday ready to improve. Now, we get to just that."
 
Juliana Williamson hit .538 with seven kills and added two solo blocks, helping the Lions rack up 12 total blocks over the two matches. In the two matches, they held both Manhattan and St. Francis (BK) (.180) to under .200 percent hitting on a strong defensive day.
 
Columbia used strong starts to all three sets to control the action against Manhattan in Columbia's second straight set win of the season, and during the match against St. Francis (BK) the Lions showed fight never giving up an easy set in the match.
 
Against Manhattan, Columbia's control was evident with only three tied scores and two lead changes throughout the entire straight-set win for Columbia. And against St. Francis (BK), the Lions battled hard and it showed with 21 tie scores and 10 lead changes over the course of the match.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED: Columbia made sure to let Manhattan know how the match will go from the opening serve, scoring seven out of the first nine points to jump ahead 7-2 in the first set. Manhattan would only get as close as 13-10 and the final point of the set was locked up by Columbia forcing an attack error by Manhattan to take the set 25-19.
 
The first set would end up being the closest of Columbia's straight-set win, and five kills in the second set from Harlock meant the Lions cruised into the final set. Two out of the final three points came from a Harlock attack, and following Manhattan's fifth service error of the set, the Lions finished up a 25-15 second set to pull ahead 2-0 in the match.
 
Piggybacking off her five kills, Harlock put her stamp on the first match with a nine-kill third-set showing, hitting .615 in the final set alone to help Columbia cruise to a 25-18 third-set win. Manhattan did have an early lead, but at 7-8 Maria Milisa took to the service line where she would hold for the next four points. During that stretch, Harlock recorded a pair of kills and MIlisa added an ace as the Lions took the lead for good on their way to the straight-set win over Manhattan.
 
Despite St. Francis (BK) taking the final match in straight sets, Columbia battled in all three sets, pushing the third set past 25 points. In that final set, the Lions fell behind early and after a Columbia timeout, Columbia pushed the tempo, catching and passing St. Francis (BK) to take a 14-12 lead midway through the set.
 
But down the stretch, St. Francis (BK) caught and passed the Lions and despite Columbia holding set point at 24-23, St. Francis (BK) took the points they needed after things rolled past 25 points to take the final set 27-25 to win the final match of the weekend in straight sets.
 
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