MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #14: Cornell vs. Harvard
MATCH TIME: Friday, Oct. 9, 2009; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 34-14
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 3-2, on Nov. 15, 2008
2009 RECORDS: Cornell 4-9 (1-1 Ivy); Harvard 4-9 (0-2 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.CornellBigRed.com

MATCH #15: Cornell vs. Dartmouth
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009; 4:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 35-7
LAST MEETING: Cornell won 3-1, on Nov. 14, 2008
2009 RECORDS: Cornell 4-9 (1-1 Ivy)*; Dartmouth 6-6 (2-0 Ivy)*
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.CornellBigRed.com

* Records prior to Friday, Oct. 9 




MATCH NOTES
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red looks to continue its winning ways this weekend as it welcomes Harvard and Dartmouth to Newman Arena. The game with the Crimson is slated for Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m., while the game with the Big Green will take place on Saturday, Oct. 10 at 4:00 p.m.

SCOUTING HARVARD: The Crimson has dropped its last two games to Dartmouth to fall to 4-9 overall and 0-2 in the Ivy League. Harvard has four hitters averaging more than two kills per set, with Anne Ingersoll leading the way at 2.92. Ingersoll is also leading the team in blocks per set (0.94). Setter Lily Durwood is averaging 9.35 assists per set, while Christine Wu is leading the Crimson defense with 5.06 digs per set.

THE SERIES VS. THE CRIMSON: Cornell and Harvard first met in 1977, a 2-0 Big Red victory, in the first year of the Ivy League Tournament. Cornell went on to win the next 10 contests before the Crimson earned its first win in the series during the 1988 campaign. The Big Red has won the past nine meetings, dating back to Oct. 9, 2004, to build its lead in the all-time series to 34-14.

LAST TIME VS. HARVARD: The Big Red closed out its 2008 season with a 3-2 win over Harvard. Alessa Cekauskas led the team with 15 kills, while senior Emily Borman had 14. Cornell held a slight lead in the first set and powered on to a 25-21 victory. Cekauskas notched five kills in just eight attempts to hit .625, while junior libero Megan Mushovic totaled seven digs. Once again the Big Red held an advantage early in the second set and went up 2-0 with a 25-19 win. Harvard regrouped to win the third set, 25-21, and the fourth set, 25-22. Cornell took the court with renewed energy in the fifth, looking to end its season with a win. The Big Red notched six unanswered points before Harvard scored on a service error. The Big Red continued on to a 15-9 victory, with Borman and Kathryn Woodbury scoring the final point with a block against a Crimson attack. Borman had five blocks to add to her 14 kills and hit .417 in the match. McCarthy totaled 10 kills and 18 digs and added three service aces. Holland finished the night with 50 assists with 17 digs and four blocks. Mushovic had a team-high 21 digs and Risa Ka'awa added 10. Harvard was led by Mikaelle Comrie and Anne Carroll Ingersoll with 14 kills each. Libero Christine Wu notched a match-high 31 digs.

SCOUTING DARTMOUTH: The Big Green evened its record to 6-6 on the year and opened the Ivy League season at 2-0 after sweeping Harvard. The team is led by Madeline Baird's 3.51 kills per set, while Amber Bryant is posting 3.24 digs per set. Kendall Houston runs the offense, averaging 7.85 assists per set.

THE SERIES VS. THE BIG GREEN: Cornell's series with Dartmouth began in 1981 and the Big Red has dominated from the beginning, winning the first 13 meetings before falling to the Big Green for the first time on Oct. 12, 1996. Cornell owns a 35-7 record in the all-time series, winning 18 of the last 19 meetings, including both games last season.

LAST TIME VS. DARTMOUTH: The Big Red volleyball team defeated Dartmouth, 3-1, in front of a crowd of over 1,400 people in Newman Arena, as it hosted Dig Pink, an event to raise money for breast cancer research. Four Cornell hitters recorded double digit kills, with Erin McCarthy leading the way with 14. Dartmouth held off a late Big Red rally to take the 25-23 victory in the first set, but Cornell went on to win the next three sets, 25-22, 25-19 and 25-17. McCarthy had 10 digs to add to her 14 kills, and Kathryn Woodbury totaled 13 kills hitting .462. Kelly Hansen added 12 kills with a .550 hitting percentage, and Alessa Cekauskas notched 11 kills. Hilary Holland finished the match with 51 assists and 17 digs. Emily Borman led the Big Red at the net with seven block assists, and Megan Mushovic led the back row with 19 digs. Dartmouth was led by Jess Thomas with 14 kills, and Megan MacGregor and Madeline Baird added 11 and 10, respectively. Libero Amber Bryant had a match-high 22 digs.

CORNELL'S LAST GAME: The Big Red defeated Columbia in straight sets, 25-18, 25-15, 25-18, to earn its first Ivy League win of the season on Saturday in Newman Arena. Deveney Pula led the team with 10 kills and just four errors on 27 attempts for a .222 kill percentage, while Alessa Cekauskas posted nine kills and just three errors on 24 attempts (.250). Jordan Reeder ran the offense with 34 assists, while Megan Mushovic led the team with 12 digs. Juliana Rodgers also had a solid game with seven kills and five total blocks. Columbia (9-5, 1-1) was led by Megan Gaughn's 10 kills, while Kelsey Mussleman handed out 23 assists. Libero Ellie Thomas posted a game-high 19 digs.

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.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Jordan Reeder was named the Ivy League Player of the Week for the first time in her career, after helping the Big Red earn the first conference win of head coach Sarah Bernson's career as the team defeated Columbia, 3-0, on Oct. 3. Reeder had the best match of her career, as she posted 34 assists to lead the Big Red offense. The sophomore setter also registered seven digs, two block assists, one service ace, and had two kills with no errors on four attempts (.500).

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 digs 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 nine matches, registering 46 kills and just 16 errors on 102 attempts, for a team-best .294 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 75 on the season (1.7 per set). At the same time, Big Red opponents have posted 108 serving errors (2.4 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 weekend, as it remains in Ithaca to play host to Yale on Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., and Brown on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 4 p.m.