FYI I figured it out for whoever might need the answer in the future.
For an 11'' wide layout, I selected "allow multiple columns" and checked "keep together" on the common tab of the section expert. On the layout tab in the section expert, I set the column widths to 2.65 inches and for the printing direction I selected "Across then down"
I also suppressed the first column of row titles by selecting "suppress if duplicated" after right clicking and going to "format field"
Hope this helps someone!