ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red volleyball team earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Columbia this afternoon to get its first season sweep against the Lions since the 2013 campaign. With the win, Cornell improves to 10-8 overall and 5-3 in the Ivy League to remain in third place in the conference standings behind 7-1 Princeton and Yale.
 
The Big Red won the first two sets, 25-18 and 25-13, before falling to Brown, 19-25 and 22-25. Cornell won the fifth set in decisive fashion, 15-6.  
 
Samanta Arenas led the Big Red with 20 kills, one of three Big Red players to reach double-digits, along with Avery Hanan (11) and Jada Stackhouse (10). Stackhouse was truly impressive with a .692 hitting percentage (10-1-13) to go along with six blocks (one solo). Kara Rogers and Jenna Phelps both chipped in seven kills, with Rogers hitting .389 with no errors on 18 attempts.
 
Lily Barber had a team-high 16 digs, while setter Zoe Chamness had a career-high 50 assists to go along with 14 digs.
 
Columbia (9-9, 3-5 Ivy) was led by Lauren Wilkins and Emily Teehan with 16 and 15 kills, apiece. Teehan also added a match-high 17 digs along with libero Kalie Wood.
 
The teams battled to an 11-11 tie in the first set before three consecutive kills from Arenas gave Cornell a lead it would not relinquish. Columbia pulled within one-point six times down the stretch, but each time the Big Red had an answer before closing the set with six unanswered points, thanks in large part to the tough serving of Shae Bauchens, to win 25-18.
 
The second set was all Cornell as the home team jumped out to an 8-2 lead and never looked back. The Big Red went up by as many as 10 points and eventually took the 25-13 victory.
 
Columbia turned the tide in the third set and posted its best hitting percentage of the match (.275) to go along with four service aces to win 25-19.
 
The fourth set was the most competitive of the day with eight ties and three lead changes, but the Lions managed to end a 21-21 deadlock with a kill from Wilkins and went on to win the set 25-22.
 
The Big Red hit a blistering .348 in the final set, with eight kills and no errors. Bauchens set the tone early with a pair of strong serves giving Cornell a 2-0 lead. The Lions knotted the set at 3-3, but a pair of kills from Hanan and several Columbia miscues put the Big Red up, 7-4. The visitors called a timeout to regroup, but a service ace by Chamness erased any hopes of a comeback and Cornell rolled to the 15-6 victory.
 
The Big Red hits the road for games at Dartmouth and Harvard next weekend. Cornell will face the Big Green at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 26, before taking on the Crimson at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 27.