NEW YORK - The Columbia volleyball team had a huge win Saturday to open the Columbia Tri-Match, as the Lions beat Cornell 3-0. It was the first Ivy League win under second-year head coach Jon Wilson, and the first for the program since 2006. It is also the first time Columbia has defeated Cornell since 2001. The Lions followed that up with a 3-1 win over Hartford, to improve to 9-4 overall. With their eighth and ninth wins of the season, the Lions are off to the best start since 2000, when Columbia started the season 10-2, and ended with the best record in program history, at 16-13.

Columbia vs. Cornell

Columbia and Cornell battled their way through all three sets, with the Lions coming out victorious, 25-20, 28-26, 27-25. The first set saw Cornell take the first lead, as Columbia had what would be one of nine service errors to start the match. From there, the score would be tied eight times and see three lead changes. Though the Big Red held the advantage twice early on, Columbia went ahead at 10-9 on a kill by sophomore Monique Roberts, and never relinquished that lead.  Attack errors by Cornell and a service ace from Megan Gaughn gave Columbia its biggest lead of the set, as they went up 17-11. Though Cornell would close the gap to 23-20, the Lions kept their cool, and used a kill from Roberts followed by a Cornell attack error to end the game, and take the 25-20 win.

The second set was even closer than the first, as the score tied 17 different times, and the lead changed hands seven times. Cornell held the biggest lead of the game, as they went up 17-13 at one point, but a kill from Sarah Thompson and two Cornell attack errors helped Columbia get back in the game, tying it up at 17 all. The Big Red would take the lead three more times, and went up 24-21, ready to take the win at set point. But Columbia rallied back with back to back kills from first-year Megan Gaughn, and then used a Cornell attack error to tie it up at 24-24. Though Cornell would take the lead 25-24 on a kill from Juliana Roberts, Columbia tied it up again, and took a 26-25 lead with an ace from Guaghn. Two errors by the Big Red iced the win for the Lions, and Columbia took a 2-0 match lead, with the 28-26 win.

Columbia managed to maintain momentum in the third set, and held onto the lead for most of the set. The Lions led by as much as 18-12 heading towards the end of the set. But Cornell showed signs of life, going on a 6-1 run to close the lead to 19-17. From there, Cornell managed to tie up the score at 22-22, forcing the Lions to fight to the very end. And fight they did, as a kill from first-year Erin Longinotti put Columbia up 25-24, a kill from first-year Kelsey Musselman made it 26-25, and a kill from Gaughn ended the game and the match, with a 27-25 win in the third putting Columbia up 3-0.

Gaughn led both teams with a double-double, hitting 20 kills (.235 attack percentage), and 12 digs. Senior Ellie Thomas had 16 digs, while first-year Longinotti had nine kills and Thompson had seven in the win.

Columbia vs. Hartford

The Lions earned with their 3-1 win over Hartford, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18, 25-13.

The first set saw Hartford take the early lead, as the Hawks went up 6-2 on a Columbia attack error. But Coach Jon Wilson called a time out, and rallied his troop. The Lions came out with a kill from Megan Gaughn, and began a rally back, tying it up at 10-10 with a kill from Gaughn. A kill from junior Sarah Thompson put Columbia up 11-10, and the Lions never lost the lead again. With junior Martina Kajanova serving, Columbia went on a 6-0 run, eventually going ahead 15-11. Two errors by the Hawks ended the set in the Lions' favor, with Columbia taking the 25-19 win.

The closest set of the match came in the second, when the score was tied seven different times. With the scored tied up at 4-4, Columbia had first-year Kelsey Musselman serving, and went on a 6-1 run to take the 11-5 lead. With the Hawks making multiple attack errors, the Lions led by as much as 18-13, before Hartford began to mount a comeback. With two attack errors from Columbia, Hartford closed the game to 20-19, and tied it up with a kill from Lindsay Ford. Though Columbia would retake the lead twice more at 21-20 and 22-21, the Hawks found their momentum at the 23-22 lead, and ended the game with a 25-23 win, tying the match up at 1-1.

Hartford maintained their momentum heading into the third set, going up 4-1 on the Lions from the start. But Columbia managed to tie it up at 6-6, and with senior Ellie Thomas serving, the Lions went on a 4-0 run, taking a 10-6 lead they would never relinquish. The Lions led by as much as 19-13, on the way to a 25-18 win, taking the 2-1 advantage overall.

With the fourth set coming to the floor, Columbia made it clear they were ready to take the win and end play for the day. A kill from Gaughn opened the match for the Lions, and with Sarah Thompson serving, Columbia went up 3-0. Kills from Gaughn and Roberts put Columbia up 5-4, and with Gaughn serving, Columbia scored six unanswered points to go up 11-4. The Lions continued to increase their lead to 14-7, and then capitalized on Hartford errors to widen the lead to 19-10. Columbia would only let the Hawks score three more point on the way to the win, taking the fourth set 25-13, and the match 3-1.

Gaughn led both teams with 17 kills, and adding 14 digs for her second double-double of the day. Junior Sarah Thompson was also a force on offense, with 10 kills and four blocks. Senior Ellie Thomas and junior Martina Kajanova had 13 and 15 digs respectively, while Monique Roberts had five blocks in the win.

Up next, the Lions (9-4, 1-0 Ivy League) will head to Itacha, N.Y., for a rematch against Cornell, Saturday October 3 at 2 p.m.