New York, NY - Kelsie Wills (24) and Nikki Kinnier (20) combined for 44 kills, but it was not enough as Hofstra dropped a hard-fought match to Columbia Saturday night at the Columbia Invitational. Set scores were 25-19, 21-25, 19-25, 25-19, 12-15.
Hofstra finished as the runner-up in the tournament behind Columbia. Wills and Kinnier were named to the all-tournament team for their performance.
The loss snapped a short two-match winning streak and dropped the Pride's record to 11-6. Columbia improved to 5-4 with the win.
Hofstra snapped a 10-10 tie in the first set on a kill from Jovana Barisic and went on to score six of the next nine points en route to the 25-19 win. Hofstra had 19 kills in the set compared to just seven for the Lions.
Columbia took the second set despite totaling just nine kills. The Lions scored four staight points to break a 20-20 tie with Tournament MVP Atlanta Moye-McLaren collecting two of her team-high 10 in the run.
The Lions went up two sets to one with a 25-19 win in the third, jumping out to a 7-1 lead and never looking back. Hofstra had closed to within two points, 9-7, on a block from Wills and Adama Aja but could not get closer.
The Pride evened the match with a wire-to-wire win in set four, posting a 25-19 victory. Wills had two kills as Hofstra scored the first four points and finished with six kills in the set.
The decisive fifth set went back and forth with seven tie scores and three lead changes. Columbia snapped a 7-7 tie with four straight points and went on for the 15-12 win.
Aja had six kills in the match and a career-best 12 blocks. Wills added 16 digs, while Kylee Maneja had a match-high 20 digs. Catalina Charry had 47 assists and 14 digs for the Pride as well.
Mioye-McLaren was the only Columbia player in double-figures in kills and Molly Winger had a team-high 17 digs.
The five-set match was the Pride's third consecutive, matching a string of three five-set matches in during the 2008 season.
Hofstra returns to action Tuesday evening when it hosts Fordham at 7 p.m. The match will be held in the Mack Sports Complex.
