Coming off a sub-.500 start in non-league play, the Harvard women's volleyball team opened its Ivy schedule in perfect fashion this weekend, beating both Cornell and Columbia in three straight games at the Malkin Athletic Center.

After topping the Big Red (5-6, 0-1 Ivy) 15-9, 15-5, 15-0 on Friday night, the Crimson (9-8, 2-0) followed through on Saturday afternoon with an equally impressive 15-5, 15-7, 15-9 win against the Lions.

"Our team really came together this weekend and was ready for the Ivy League competition to start," sophomore outside hitter Erin Denniston said. "We knew we were going to win all along."

Harvard 3, Columbia 0

The Crimson used its momentum from Friday night's shutout of Cornell to once again get off to a fast start in its match against the Lions (10-6, 0-2).

Although the match got progressively tougher, Harvard was able to hold on and finished off Columbia in three games.

Denniston played brilliantly, leading the Crimson with 15 kills and posting a .522 kill percentage, and junior outside hitter Angela Lutich added 14 kills of her own.

"We were feeling really good entering the matches this weekend," Lutich said. "We've had a bunch of tough games this season, and I think it's paying off now that we're playing the Ivy League schedule. It helped to play tougher teams early on."