Despite Columbia (2-12, 0-2 Ivy) stopping the women’s volleyball team’s (8-3, 2-0 Ivy) school record-breaking 22-game winning streak, the Red was able to continue its dominance in matches, routing Columbia in a home-and-home this weekend.
“I never really thought about the games record,” said Cornell head coach Deitre Collins. “I didn’t honestly give it much thought. Whether we won in three games or won in four [on Saturday], what’s more important is that we won the match.” The Red opened the weekend strongly on Friday, beating the Lions in three straight games, 30-18, 30-13, and 30-19. The Lions put up a stronger showing on their home court, but Cornell still prevailed, with the games scored 30-19, 30-21, 20-30, and 30-26.
A delay in the match on Friday until 5:00 p.m. had no effect on Cornell, who appeared ready to go from the start. The Red out-hit the Lions .414-.011 on the day. Friday saw a number of outstanding performances from some of Cornell’s more experienced players. Junior Rachel Adomat had seven kills and an .875 hitting percentage. Additionally, juniors Hayley Grieve and Heather Young, along with sophomores Liz Bishop and Katie Rademacher all were over the .500 mark in hitting percentage. The Red also posted an impressive nine service aces to the Lions’ lone ace, led by the hot hand of Bishop, who had three.
When asked to single out a few solid performances in Friday’s match, Collins replied, “I think [Bishop] always continues to give us a good showing every time out, [but] on Friday it was real nice to be able to play everybody.”
On Saturday, the Lions came out with a bit more roar than they did the previous night. After the Red took the first two games of the night, apparently on pace to another sweep win, the Lions battled back to stymie Cornell’s school-record 22-game win streak.
“Anytime you go on the road, it’s different,” Collins explained. “Columbia was at home, so we expected them to play better… On Saturday we played kind of up and down, but we still put up real good numbers.”
Individually, the Lions’ players were much stronger than in Friday’s match, led by freshman Cassie Ligh, who had 19 kills and 12 digs, and fellow freshman Natalie Gerling, who had 18 kills and 10 digs. Lions freshman libero Kelli Hogan picked up 22 digs on the day as well. In the fourth game of the night the Lions threatened to take another game, but Cornell was able to put the match to bed with a 30-26 win.
“I think a good thing about this weekend’s home and home is that we have Columbia out of the way,” Collins said. “It’s a great way to start the Ivies and it’s really important for us to set a tone to show what kind of team we’re going to be.”
The Red again put up solid hitting numbers on Saturday, garnering a .306 percentage on the day. This did not quite compare to its home court .414, but sophomore middle blocker Katie Rademacher was again over the .500 mark in hitting percentage with .579. The Red also once again out-aced the Lions, this time 11-6, and Cornell also out-blocked Columbia, 9.0-5.0.
Archived article by Mike Pandolfini
Sun Staff Writer