MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #7: Cornell vs. Colgate
MATCH TIME: Friday, Sept. 18, 2009; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 53-24
LAST MEETING: Colgate defeated Cornell, 3-1, on Oct. 14, 2008
2009 RECORDS: Cornell 2-4; Colgate 1-6
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.CornellBigRed.com

MATCH #8: Cornell vs. St. John's
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009; 11:00 a.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: St. John's leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: St. John's defeated Cornell 3-1, 3-0, on Sept. 15, 2006
2009 RECORDS: Cornell 2-4; St. John's 4-7
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.CornellBigRed.com

MATCH #9: Cornell vs. Buffalo
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 14-4-1
LAST MEETING: Cornell defeated Buffalo, 3-0, on Sept. 16, 2006
2009 RECORDS: Cornell 2-4; Buffalo 6-4
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.CornellBigRed.com 

 

MATCH NOTES
THE CORNELL INVITATIONAL: The Big Red will play host to Colgate, St. John's, and Buffalo at this weekend's Cornell Invitational. Cornell is set to start the tournament by facing the Raiders on Friday, Sept. 18 at 7:00 p.m., before taking on St. John's and Buffalo on Saturday, Sept. 19 at 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., respectively.

SCOUTING COLGATE: Colgate picked up a win during their first match of the season only to lose the next six in a row to fall to 1-6 on the year. Kaleigh Durkett leads the offense with 3.15 kills per set. She also is averaging 2.52 digs per set on defense, second on the team behind Devon Applegate with 3.63.

THE SERIES VS. THE RAIDERS: The Big Red has a rich history against the Raiders, their first match dating all the way back to 1972. Cornell leads the series 53-24. However, Colgate came out victorious during their last meeting, winning 3-1, on Oct. 14, 2008.

SCOUTING ST. JOHN'S: After losing three in a row at the Miami Best Western Invitational, the Red Storm now have a 4-7 record on the season. On offense, Darlene Radmin is averaging 5.03 kills per set while Gabriela Petkova is dominating with 10.32 assists per set. Ashley Asing leads the defense with 3.56 digs per set.

THE SERIES VS. THE RED STORM: Cornell and St. John's have faced each other only one time, with the Red Storm picking up the 3-1 win on Sept. 15 2006.

SCOUTING BUFFALO: Buffalo's four-game winning streak came to an end on Tuesday after falling to Syracuse, 3-2. Despite the loss, they still hold a winning record, as they are now 6-4 on the season. Dani Silvers and Lindsey Schlegel lead the offense with 3.97 kills per set and 9.80 assists per set, respectively. Tori Beckman has 4.57 digs per set for the defense.

THE SERIES VS. THE BULLS: Cornell has dominated Buffalo in the past with a 14-4-1 record against the Bulls, including a victory in their last match, 3-0, on Sept. 16, 2006.

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.

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM: Deveney Pula was named to the All-Tournament team at the Binghamton Invitational last weekend after helping the Big Red to a pair of victories over Fairleigh Dickinson and Towson. For the weekend, Pula registered 26 kills on 92 attempts with just 10 assists for a kill percentage of .174. She also registered 32 digs, two service aces, two block assists and one assist.

MISSING MISSE: Jessica Misse has not seen the court in two years due to a myriad of injuries, but she saw significant action at the Binghamton Invitational this past weekend. The senior middle blocker saw action in all three games and posted 12 kills and four blocks during the tournament.

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 34 on the young season (1.6 per set). At the same time, Big Red opponents have posted 60 serving errors (2.86 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). Since that time, Reeder has posted 36 assists in five sets vs. Fairleigh Dickinson and 33 in three sets vs. Towson.

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. Up next is the Ivy League record for career digs, as Mushovic needs just 65 more to surpass 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

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).

DIG IT: Senior Megan Mushovic has ranked among the national leaders in digs during all three of her seasons, posting 5.60 digs per set to rank fifth nationally last year. She was as consistent as any defensive player in the country in 2008, reaching double figures in digs in 24 of 25 matches on the season.

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 takes on in-state rival Syracuse on Wednesday, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m.