The Bears took a tour of the Empire State last weekend, falling to Columbia in New York City but besting Cornell in Ithaca.
Brown (8-10, Ivy 4-3) first took on the Lions (5-11, 3-4), where it suffered a 3-0 loss, struggling offensively against a steady Columbia. The Lions were unshakeable, limiting the Bears’ kill percentage to 0.048 compared to Columbia’s boastful 0.171.
“They were blocking our right side hitters very well,” said Rachele Killian ’16. “Neither of them got any kills.”
Columbia had 10 successful blocks to Brown’s two.
The closest the Bears were to securing a set was in the third, when they came close to tying the score 20-21. Three kills and one bad set later, Columbia clinched the match to shutout the Bears.
“We acknowledge that we played poorly in the Columbia match and we knew that we were capable of higher play,” said Killian.
The Bears faced a quick turnaround, having to travel to Cornell (6-11, 2-5) to prepare for competition the next day. Brown rebounded with an assuring 3-1 victory over the Big Red with Amanda Nickel ’14 leading the team with 13 kills.
“We recognized that we needed to turn it on,” said Killian.
The match saw a significantly higher kill percentage of 0.132 from the Bears. Brown stepped up for the occasion and demonstrated their mental toughness through all the sets. The Bears won the first and second sets 25-21 and 26-24, respectively.
But in the first, the Bears initially found themselves trailing 6-11. In the closely contested second the score was tied 24-24 when the Bears showed their resilience by closing the set with two kills.
Brown flirted with trouble only in the third. Building on momentum from the first and second sets, the Bears clawed their way to a 24-22 lead, giving them two chances to clinch the match. But the Bears could not put Cornell to rest. Cornell won the third 28-26 and was right back into the match.
Bruno rebounded from the loss with a fighting spirit. The Bears shot off to a 17-13 lead and found themselves up 24-22 with several other chances to clinch the match, and did not let the opportunity pass them by. A solid kill by Thea Derrough ’14 on match point led Brown to defeat Cornell 25-23.
The Bears face off against Yale (13-3, 7-0) Friday at home.
ADVERTISEMENT
