NEW YORK – Freshman outside hitter Joanna Chang played well beyond her years, recording her third double-double of the season and propelling the Big Red volleyball team (14-3, 7-1) to a 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-22) sweep of Columbia on Saturday afternoon at Levien Gymnasium in New York.

Chang was the guiding force for Cornell on both sides of the ball, collecting a team-high 11 kills to go along with a .258 hitting percentage, while also notching 12 digs. Chang received the ball beautifully, notching 21 receptions and only having one reception error for the entire match.

Jenna Phelps, Jada Stackhouse, and Madison Baptiste also played their parts, as Phelps notched nine kills and Stackhouse and Baptiste recorded seven kills apiece. The Big Red was firing on all cylinders, totaling 46 kills for the match as compared to Columbia's 29. Cornell's attack game was on point, as the Big Red out-hit the Lions .250 to .059 over the course of the match, including holding Columbia to a .000 hitting percentage in the first two sets.

The Cornell defense was able to limit Columbia's star player, Chichi Ikwuazom, to just 14 kills, six kills lower than her per-match average for the season. Stackhouse and Avery Hanan made their presence known at the net, each recording a solo block and a pair of block assists. Senior libero Lily Barber did a fantastic job of containing Ikwuazom from the back row, posting a match-high 17 digs. Chang (12) and Baptiste (10) each recorded double-digit digs as well.

Zoe Chamness and Emma Worthington did what they do best – set the Big Red attackers up for success. The pair recorded 25 and 15 assists, respectfully, and Chamness' total was not only a match-high, but matched the assist total of the entire Columbia team.

Chang carried the Big Red in the opening set, recording five of Cornell's 15 kills, in addition to collecting five digs. She was a vital reason why Cornell out-hit Columbia .222 to .000 in the opening frame, as she hit .500 in the first set. Phelps and Stackhouse each tallied three kills, and Stackhouse defended the net well, posting a solo block and a block assist in the Big Red's 25-17 first set win.

The second set was more back-and-forth to begin with, but Cornell utilized its full arsenal of attackers to pull away from the Lions, as Baptiste, Jillienne Bennett, Hanan, Phelps, Stackhouse and Emma Worthington all notched at least one kill in the set.

With the score knotted up at 10-10, the Big Red created separation. A skip-set attack from Worthington got things started for Cornell, and the Big Red scored five of the next six points to take a 15-11 lead and force a Columbia timeout. The break in the action didn't do much to slow down the Big Red, who scored six of the next eight points out of the timeout to push the score to 21-13. Phelps, Chang, Hanan, and Bennett all recorded kills during the run, leading the Big Red to a 25-15 set two victory.

Columbia did not go down easily in the third set, but Cornell persevered. With the score tied at 9-9, three-straight Columbia attack errors gave the Big red a 12-9 lead. The Lions came roaring back, scoring five of the next seven points to even the score up at 14-14.

Cornell responded, and following a Chang kill, Hanan kill, and Columbia attack error, the Big Red were back on top, 17-14. Columbia would bring it to within one at 18-17, but Baptiste recorded a kill to push the Cornell lead back to two at 19-17. Columbia was not finished yet, however, scoring three of the next four points to knot things up at 20-20.

Columbia ultimately took a 22-21 lead, and the Big Red took a timeout to regroup. This proved to be a great decision, as Cornell notched four-straight kills out of the timeout to win the third set, 25-22, and the match, 3-0. Chang recorded the first two kills, and Phelps and Hanan finished off the Lions with one kill apiece in the closing points.

The Big Red volleyball team will be back in action next weekend when it returns to Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y. for its first two matches of a four-match home stand. Cornell will take on Princeton in a battle for first place in the Ivy League on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. before hosting Penn on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 5 p.m.