With a hard-fought win over Cornell last weekend, Columbia broke a 33-match Ivy League losing streak. This weekend, the Lions have the chance to break their 27-match Ivy losing streak on the road when they come to Ithaca to take on the Red again.

The Lions’ (7-4, 1-0 Ivy) win didn’t come easy, being pushed to extra points in the second and third sets by the Red (3-9, 0-1 Ivy). Going back and forth until the very end, the Lions pulled away 25-20, 28-26, 27-25. With the win, Columbia moved to 5-44 all-time against Cornell.

Columbia’s resurgence this season has been led by second-year head coach Jon Wilson and a trio of freshmen quickly making their mark on the team. Outside hitters Megan Gaughn and Erin Longinotti and setter Kelsey Musselman have paced Columbia in its early surge.

“I think that they’ve definitely had good players, and now they’ve been working really hard,” said senior captain Megan Mushovic. “They have great freshman who are contributing, and they also have sophomores contributing. It also seems like their coach has helped things settle down.”

Musselman leads the Lions with 297 assists in 52 sets while also having the benefit of observing senior setter Alex Marchyshyn collect 115 assists in 24 sets. In the match against Cornell, it was Musselman at the helm for the Lions as she collected 32 assists.

Telekinesis: Freshman outside hitter Deveney Pula leads Cornell with 96 kills this season.Gaughn’s performance against the Red — 20 kills on 51 attempts with eight errors — was enough to earn her the second Ivy League Rookie of the Week honor of her short career. Longiotti added nine kills, while junior middle blocker Sarah Thompson added seven kills and two block assists.

Red senior captain Juliana Rogers matched Thompson in the middle — totaling eight kills and three block assists. Deveney Pula showed that the Lions aren’t the only team in the league with impressive freshmen on the outside, leading the Red with 12 kills to go with 11 digs.

Mushovic led the Red with 13 digs, and noting that last weekend’s match could have gone either way, welcomed the opportunity to play the Lions again.

“Coming up this weekend it will be a true test,” she said. “It’s not just video this time, now we’ve seen them in person. We know what they did last weekend that works well against us. If we work on those things in practice, we should be able to respond.”

The Red was without several key contributors last weekend that didn’t make the trip to New York City. Among them was sophomore setter Jordan Reeder, who leads Cornell this season with 232 assists. With the game in Newman Arena tomorrow, Cornell will have its full roster at its disposal.

While everyone on the Red’s roster contributes, Pula has so far pulled away as Cornell’s statistical leader in kills with 96. Rogers is behind her with 67, while junior outside Alessa Cekauskas (57), freshman middle Alice Cope (55), senior middle Jessica Misse (42) and junior outside Erin McCarthy (39) round out the top six.

“[Head coach Sarah Bernson] feels very comfortable mixing up the lineup and is confident with different groups on the court,” Mushovic said. “Everyone’s playing, so everyone needs to make sure that they’re playing their best.”