Volleyball looks for wins over Ivy foes

The Columbia volleyball team hopes to turn its luck around this weekend against Ivy League competitors Brown (4-10, 0-3) and Yale (12-2, 2-1). The Light Blue (10-6, 1-3) started off competition in the Ancient Eight with a win against Cornell, but has recently dropped matchups to both Dartmouth and Harvard.
Saturday marks Columbia’s first meeting with Brown this season, who had a tough first three matches of the season. After losses to Yale and Penn, the Bears took on Princeton last Saturday in search of their first Ivy League win, but fell 3-1 despite their efforts.

After initially falling behind 24-14 in the first set, Brown was able to put together a solid rally to bring the score to a close 24-22 before giving up the final point. Even with an early lead in the second set, the Bears couldn’t stay ahead as they succumbed to a Princeton rally and fell again in a 25-23 defeat.
The Bears succeeded in stifling another Tiger rally and Brown went on to win the third set 25-22. Brown’s efforts fell short, however, when they dropped the final set, and thus the match, to Princeton.

Strong performances came from junior Megan Toman, who shone with two critical service aces towards the end of the third set. Captain and fellow junior Danielle Vaughan also helped out with seven blocks and eight kills throughout the game.

Yale also enters this weekend’s matchup coming off of a tough loss—a five-set game against Penn. Despite the best efforts of several key players, such as senior Cat Dailey who had a double-double with 26 kills and 16 digs, junior Kelly Ozurovich with 17 digs, and senior Alexis Crusey with nine kills and 11 digs, the Bulldogs were not able to pull off the win.

The Quakers grabbed the first set 25-23 but Yale responded with a 25-19 win in the second. After falling down 20-12 in the third set, Yale put forth an 8-1 run to nearly tie the game, but was unable to complete the task as the Quakers grabbed a 2-1 lead. Penn started the fourth set ahead 8-5, but the Bulldogs retaliated to take the lead 11-8. The two teams exchanged points to force ties at 15, 19, 20, 23, and 25 points all before Yale could capitalize on a Quaker mistake to tie the game 2-2.

In the fifth set, just like the fourth, Yale and Penn battled through a plethora of stalemates before Penn’s setter scored the final point and served the Bulldogs with their first conference loss this season.

Columbia will be facing both opponents at Levien Gymnasium this weekend. Brown will look for its first Ivy win Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., while Yale poses a roadblock for the Light Blue Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.