The 2010s was the best decade in Columbia volleyball history. Volleyball experienced four top-three finishes and nine All-Ivy League First Team selections, making the 2010s the most successful decade in the entire history of the program. While the team had stretches of dominance and flashes of title contention, it also had long periods of inconsistency. The Lions found themselves in the bottom quarter of the conference in four seasons and with three different coaches throughout the decade. Over the course of the decade, volleyball finished 112-125 overall, and 62-78 in conference play.

Men’s swimming and diving finished its season with a fifth-place finish at the Ivy League Championships. Led by historic dominance from its relay groups and two individual golds for junior freestyle sprinter Albert Gwo, the Lions were in the hunt for third place throughout the four-day meet. But with the heartbreak of two disqualifications for senior Nian-Guo Liu in events he had dominated throughout the season, the Lions dropped into the bottom half of the conference.

In the middle of its best season in five years, the Columbia club ice hockey team had only ever drawn a handful of people to the rink for its games. But this time, as it suffered a disappointing loss to St. Thomas Aquinas College, the team skated to the sounds of cheers, trumpets, and the banging of a “wet floor” sign from dozens of fans and Columbia University Marching Band members in the arena.

Columbia men’s swimming and diving finished its dual season with its first road win of the year and the Light Blue’s first victory against Princeton since 1980. The Lions finished their dual meet season at 6-3 and 5-2 Ivy after beating the second-best team in the league.

After taking its worst loss of the season against Navy on the road, Columbia men’s swimming and diving recovered to clobber Dartmouth on Senior Day. The Lions’ last home meet of the season, albeit against a weak team, was a resounding success.

Some nights, Bruce Baker is lucky to get to bed by 2 a.m. The Columbia men’s ice hockey coach does not set this bedtime by choice; rather, the Lions can only afford ice time from 10:30 to 11:45 p.m and most games end after midnight.

The men’s swimming and diving team began their 2020 season jet-lagged and fatigued. After flying back from a training trip to Hawaii on Sunday, Columbia topped Cornell, which has won only one Ivy meet this season, at home 167-133 on Tuesday, but fell on the road to Brown 186-114 on Saturday.

Despite strong performances by Columbia’s relay swimmers and sprinters, men’s swimming finished fifth of seven teams at Princeton’s Big Al Invite this weekend, managing only one first-place finish in 21 events.

Each season marks a new start for Columbia Athletics. Players are given another chance to realize their full potential, and teams are invigorated with hopes of winning championship titles. The actions of individuals and their teams define the culture of Columbia Athletics for years to come; these are the moments that characterized the fall 2019 season.