NEW YORK – After winning the first set, 25-20, the Big Red volleyball team dropped the next three (25-21, 25-12, 25-20) to fall to Columbia, 3-1, this afternoon at Levien Gymnasium in the Ivy League opener for both teams.
 
Cornell (3-8, 0-1) was led by Macey Wilson's .286 hitting percentage (7-1-21), while freshmen Maddy Sroufe and Emily Wemhoff had 10 kills apiece. Setter Alyssa Phelps had 32 assists to go along with six digs, four kills and three blocks, while libero Natasha Rowland finished with a match-high 23 digs. Chelsea Sincox also chipped in a career-high 16 digs.
 
Columbia (5-5, 1-0) was led by Bailey Springer and Katarina Jovicic with 10 kills each. Jovicic also hit an impressive .450 (10-1-20), as the team posted a .159 hitting percentage for the match. Jennifer Petrovich handed out 34 assists and Charlee Dyroff was the only Lion with double-digit digs, finishing with 17.
 
After a back-and-forth battle to start the first set, a kill by Maddy Sroufe opened up an 8-1 run that handed the Big Red an 18-11 advantage. Sroufe led the visitors during the stretch with three kills, while Kiley McPeek contributed a service ace. The Lions slowly fought their way back into the set, closing the gap to four points (22-18), but Cornell came away with the 25-20 victory.
 
Cornell earned consecutive kills from Wilson, Sroufe and Ennis to jump out to a 4-1 lead in the second set, but the Lions used seven unanswered points to overtake the visitors and go up, 10-7.  A kill by McCarty ended the Columbia run and the teams traded points until a small 5-2 gave the home team a commanding 17-12 lead. With Cornell trailing, 20-15, opened up a 4-1 run, which included kills from McCarty and Phelps, to get back into the contest (21-19). Back-to-back kills from Wemhoff and Wilson kept the Big Red in the match down the stretch, but the Lions closed the match with a kill from Bailey
Springer.
 
The teams traded points to start the third set before and 11-2 Columbia run put the Lions up by double-digits en-route to a 25-12 victory.
 
The Big Red came out on fire in the fourth set, with kills by McCarty, Wemhoff, Phelps and Sroufe, as well as a service ace by Chelsea Sincox giving the visitors a 7-2 lead. The Lions slowly worked their way back into the contest and managed to pull even at 13-13. Kills by Wilson, Sroufe and Gabrielle Ennis helped the visitors to an 18-14 lead, but a kill from Anja Malesevic opened up the decisive 11-2 run that gave Colubmia the 25-20 win.
 
The first full Ivy weekend is next on tap with the Big Red traveling to Princeton on Friday, Oct. 3 and Penn on Saturday, Oct. 4.