MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #13: Cornell vs. Columbia
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009; 2:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 44-5
LAST MEETING: Columbia won 3-0, on Sept. 26, 2009
2009 RECORDS: Cornell 3-9; Columbia 9-4
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com  
LIVE VIDEO: www.CornellBigRed.com   

 

MATCH NOTES
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red seeks its first Ivy League win as it welcomes Columbia to Newman Arena on Saturday, Oct. 3 at 2:00 p.m. The game will be the second between the two squads in a week, as the Lions took the 3-0 victory on Sept. 26.  

SCOUTING COLUMBIA: The Lions are riding a five-match winning streak, as they improved to 9-4 on the season following a pair of victories against Cornell and Hartford last weekend at Levien Gym. The team is led by Megan Gaughn's 4.13 kills per set, while Ellie Thomas is posting 4.96 digs per set.

THE SERIES VS. THE LIONS: Cornell has dominated the series with Columbia, owning a 44-5 record vs. the Lions all-time. The Big Red had a 15-game winning streak vs. the Lions snapped last weekend as Columbia defeated Cornell, 3-0.

 

LAST TIME VS. COLUMBIA: The Big Red fell to Columbia, 3-0, last Saturday in both teams' Ivy League opener. Deveney Pula led Cornell with 12 kills and 11 digs. Lucy Zheng posted 22 assists and four kills on just nine attacks, while Megan Mushovic had a team-high 13 digs. Columbia (8-4, 1-0 Ivy) was led by Megan Gaughn's 20 kills and 12 digs. In all, the Lions had four players post double-digit digs with Ellie Thomas registering 16 and both Sarah Thompson and Martina Kajanova adding 10 apiece.

 

CORNELL'S LAST GAME: In its second match of the day, Big Red defeated Hartford, 3-2, at Columbia's Levien Gym on Sept. 26. The Big Red won the second, fourth and fifth set – set scores were 17-25, 26-24, 22-25, 25-13, 15-11. Deveney Pula registered 17 kills and just five errors on 40 attempts for a .300 hit percentage to go along with 11 digs. Juliana Rogers added 11 kills, while Jessica Misse chipped in eight kills and four block assists. Sophomore Sydney Campbell and freshman Lucy Zheng ran the offense with 19 and 16 assists, respectively, while Megan Mushovic anchored the defense with 22 digs. Hartford (6-8) was led by Erin Marco's 22 kills and Lindsay Ford's 44 assists.

MEET THE NEW BOSS: After serving as an assistant coach for the past five seasons, Sarah Bernson was named the ninth Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach of Volleyball at Cornell. In her five seasons as an assistant with the Big Red, Bernson helped the program to three Ivy titles (2004, 2005, 2006) and two NCAA tournament appearances (2005 and 2006). She has helped develop 16 All-Ivy performers over that span. Bernson was in charge of the program's recruiting and worked with the outside hitters, including the Big Red's all-time kills leader and first volleyball All-American in school history, Elizabeth Bishop '07.

 

WELCOME BACK: The Cornell volleyball program is welcoming back its alumni this weekend. Following the game vs. Columbia, the members of the current Big Red squad will take on the alumni in a game beginning at 5 p.m. Fans are welcome to stay and enjoy the game.

 

RECORD SETTER: Three-time all-conference libero Megan Mushovic set the Cornell record for career digs last season, tallying 1,612 digs in just three years. With her 22 kills vs. Hartford on Sept. 26, she surpassed the Ivy League record for career digs with 1,777, passing Brown's Tomo Nakanishi '99 at 1,762 … Mushovic also owns the top two spots in Cornell's list of single season digs, with 598 in 2007 and 549 in 2008.

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM: Deveney Pula was named to two all-tournament teams this season, making the Cornell Invitational team after earning similar honors at the Binghamton Invitational. At the Cornell Invitational, Pula led the Big Red with 26 kills on 91 attempts over three matches, to go along with 22 digs. At the Binghamton Invitational, Pula registered 26 kills on 92 attempts with just 10 errors for a kill percentage of .174. She also registered 32 digs, two service aces, two block assists and one assist.

MISSING MISSE: Jessica Misse had not seen the court in two years due to a myriad of injuries, but she saw significant action at the Binghamton Invitational on the weekend of Sept. 11-12. The senior middle blocker saw action in all three games and posted 12 kills and four blocks during the tournament. So far this season, Misse has seen action in eight matches, registering 42 kills and just 15 errors on 95 attempts, for a team-best .284 kill percentage.

DIGS A LOT: Despite falling to Morehead State in the season opener, the match proved to be yet another opportunity for senior libero Megan Mushovic to write her name in the Cornell record books, as she posted the third-best performance in school history for digs in a three game match, finishing the day with 26.

SAFE SERVING: The Big Red has done an outstanding job of keeping serving errors to a minimum, registering just 68 on the young season (1.6 per set). At the same time, Big Red opponents have posted 104 serving errors (2.5 per set).

SETTING UP: Sophomore Jordan Reeder saw the first significant action of her career, surpassing her career assist total during the opening weekend. Reeder, who entered the Patriot Invitational with 22 career assists, racked up 68 assists on the weekend, including a career-high 33 vs. George Mason (four sets).

HI! MY NAME IS: There is a new face on the Cornell sideline, as Chris Duenow, the all-time winningest head volleyball coach at Concordia University (Ore.), joins Coach Bernson's staff as an assistant coach. Duenow was the head coach at Concordia for seven seasons, posting a 108-89 record overall and a 73-39 mark in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, including the 2002 league title. That 2002 team went 24-3 overall and posted a perfect 18-0 league mark, extending its conference win streak to 65 regular season victories. He helped mentor 14 first-team all-league selections, six first-team all-region picks, one All-American and one conference Rookie of the Year.

SEASON OPENERS: Cornell is 25-12-1 all-time in season openers. Since 1995, the Big Red is an impressive 12-3 in the first match of the season.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Seniors Megan Mushovic and Juliana Rogers have been named co-captains for the 2009 season. Mushovic has been one of the top liberos in the nation over the past three seasons, while Rogers became one of the top offensive weapons for the Big Red as a junior leading the team in kills per set (2.66) and placing second in total kills (221).

FRESH FACES: The Big Red added seven freshmen to the team this season - Sydney Campbell, Alice Cope, Hanna Drake, Taylor Nieman, Deveney Pula, Ana Vanjak, Lucy Zheng. Among the seven, five are taller than 5'10", with three of those five standing 6'2" or taller. The rookie class also draws heavily on key volleyball-playing states, as four of the players hail from California, with another two from Texas. The seventh, Vanjak, is originally from Croatia but has lived in Germany for the past few years.

RECAPPING 2008: The Big Red volleyball team closed out its 2008 season tied for third place in the Ivy League with a 9-5 record and was 10-15 overall for the season. Megan Mushovic, Emily Borman and Hilary Holland each earned All-Ivy honors following the season. Mushovic was named first-team for the second-straight season at libero after leading the league in digs. Borman received second-team honors at middle blocker, and Holland was an honorable mention selection at the setter position.

UP NEXT: Cornell is back in action next week, as it remains in Ithaca to play host to Harvard on Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m., and Dartmouth on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 4 p.m.