Final Game Against Penn Gives CU Chance for Ivy Win

Today, the Columbia women’s volleyball team (3-15, 0-7 Ivy) will have its second faceoff of the season against Penn. After a steady losing streak against all seven Ivy League schools, the Lions will be looking for their first win since September against the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Despite its losing record, the Light Blue has displayed some solid individual performances. At last weekend’s match against Yale, Amalia Viti recorded 12 kills and Cassie Ligh had 16 digs. Captain Natalie Gerling leads the team with 224 kills, closely followed by Viti, who has recorded 219. Gerling, with 1,017 kills total in her four-year career is the second player ever in Columbia history to record over 1,000 kills.

Penn (12-6, 5-1 Ivy) has had a successful season and should be tough competition for Columbia. The Quakers are on a brief winning streak with their latest victory coming from three games last weekend against Havard. Penn displayed a very strong defense during this match with good digs and a lot of solid blocks. Although the games were close (30-23, 30-20, 30-28), the Quakers were able to keep a strong consistency throughout. This victory puts them in a good spot for the Ivy League championship trophy.

The last time the Lions met up with the Quakers, the two games were close. Hopefully, the Lions will be able to pick up the defense this time around in order to close the gap. Columbia should be looking out for senior Anna Shlimak, who led the scoring at last weekend’s Harvard match with 14 kills. In addition to Shlimak, Penn’s Kathryn Turner had seven kills in game two, the last time the Lions played the Quakers.

Columbia is still searching for its first Ivy League victory, but the team still has many chances as the Lions will play all seven schools again.

The game begins tonight at the Dodge Gym at 7 p.m.