Three Losses Solidify Last Place Finish

Columbia’s women’s volleyball team dropped its final home stand of the season after being swept by Yale 3-0 on Friday (30-26, 30-25, 30-21) and falling to Brown in a 3-1 (30-26, 30-28, 27-30, 30-27) decision on Saturday. With another sweeping loss at Cornell Monday (30-21, 32-30, 30-15), the Lions are now 0-12 in league play and risk finishing the season without an Ivy League win for the second time since 2003.

The Lions held their own against the Bulldogs early in Friday’s contest, managing to tie the game 16 times in the first set and 24 times in the second. However, Yale regained control in both sets behind Julia Mailander’s 14 kills and 11 digs en route to a sweep. Columbia senior Natalie Gerling posted 13 kills and two aces in the loss.

Against Brown, the Lions started by losing two sets but rallied to win their first set in their last six matches, 30-27. However, the Bears fought back and won the final set behind 19 kills from freshman Megan Toman and the Lions were handed their 11th conference loss of the season. Senior Cassie Ligh led the Lions against Brown with 19 kills and 16 digs.

Columbia did not fare any better in Ithaca on Monday, where it was handed its 12th league loss of the season in three sets. The Lions led in the first set 10-7 before the Big Red rallied to win by nine. In the second set, Columbia managed to tie the game at 30 but could not hold on and lost 32-30. Cornell’s defense stepped up in the final set behind Megan Mushovic’s 37 digs to hold the Lions to 15 points. Gerling posted 11 kills and Amalia Viti posted 10 in the defeat. With the loss, the Lions have resigned themselves to a last place finish in the Ivy League.

Columbia will finish its season this weekend hoping to get a conference win when they play their final two league games on the road. Friday, they will travel to Cambridge to face Harvard at 7 p.m. Their season concludes Saturday when they take on Dartmouth in Hanover at 4 p.m.