MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #14: Cornell at Yale
MATCH TIME: Friday, Oct. 15, 2010; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Lee Amphitheater (New Haven, Conn.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale leads, 28-25
LAST MEETING: Yale won, 3-0, Nov. 14, 2009
2010 RECORDS: Cornell (3-10, 1-3 Ivy); Yale (8-7, 2-2 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: www.YaleBulldogs.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.YaleBulldogs.com

MATCH #15: Cornell at Brown
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 15, 2010; 4:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Pizzitola Center (Providence, R.I.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 35-17
LAST MEETING: Brown won, 3-0, Nov. 13, 2009
2010 RECORDS: Cornell (3-10, 1-3 Ivy); Brown (6-10, 0-4 Ivy)*
LIVE STATS: www.BrownBears.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.BrownBears.com

* Records prior to matches on Friday, Oct. 15

THE MATCH-UP: The Big Red volleyball team will look to end a two-game skid as it travels to Yale and Brown this weekend. Cornell will take on the Bulldogs on Friday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m., before facing the Bears on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 4 p.m. The Big Red dropped a pair of contests last weekend to Dartmouth and Harvard to fall to 3-10 overall and 1-3 in the conference. Yale and Brown are also on losing streaks, having both lost to Penn and Princeton last weekend. The Bulldogs streak goes back just two games, as it fell to 8-7 overall and 1-2 in the conference. The Bears, on the other hand, have lost their last four outings to slip to 6-10 overall and 0-4 in the conference.

LAST TIME OUT:


THE SERIES VS. YALE: Cornell and Yale first met in 1976, a 2-0 Bulldog victory. Yale went on to win the next four contests before the Big Red earned its first win in the series during the 1981 campaign. The Bulldogs have won the past four meetings, but since the 2000 season, the teams have been remarkably even, with Yale holding the slight 11-8 advantage during that span and a mark of 28-25 overall in the all-time series.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale opened Ivy League play with back-to-back victories over Brown before dropping a pair of contests to Penn and Princeton last weekend to even its Ivy League record at 2-2 while falling to 8-7 overall. Bridget Hearst ranks fourth in the Ivy League with 3.40 kills per set, while Erica Reetz is sixth overall at 2.89. Setter Kendall Polan is second in the conference with 9.72 assists per set, while Kelly Ozurovich is third in the league and 16th in the nation with 5.49 digs per set

LAST TIME VS. YALE: Cornell closed out the 2009 season with a 3-0 loss to Yale in New Haven, Conn. The Big Red was swept, 25-14, 25-15, and 25-11. Cornell was led by Kelly Hansen and Deveney Pula with six kills apiece, while Juliana Rogers chipped in four. Hansen also led the team with a .200 kill percentage. Jordan Reeder tallied 17 assists, nine digs and two block assists, while Megan Mushovic registered 16 digs. Mushovic closed her illustrious career as the Ivy League's all-time dig leader with 2,040 for her career. Yale (20-4, 10-3 Ivy) was led by Cat Dailey, who registered 12 kills and just one error on 22 attempts for an impressive .500 hitting percentage. Kerry Clavadetscher posted a game-high 29 assists, while Kelly Ozurovich and Dailey tallied 21 and 13 digs, respectively.

THE SERIES VS. BROWN: Cornell's series with Brown began in the 1976 season and the Big Red has dominated from the beginning, winning the first seven meetings before falling to the Bears for the first time in 1984. Cornell owns a 35-17 record in the all-time series, winning 15 of the last 19 meetings, including three of the last four contests.

SCOUTING THE BEARS: Brown opened its Ivy League season with back-to-back losses to Yale before dropping matches to Princeton and Penn last weekend to fall to 0-4 in the conference and 6-10 overall. Emma Pastore and Katrina post lead the team with 2.65 and 2.41 kills per set, respectively, but Kathryn Glickman owns a team-best .281 hitting percentage (62-23-139). Setter Alexandra Rieckhoff ranks fourth in the conference with 9.39 assist per set, while defensive specialist Annika Gliottone is sixth overall with 4.17 dig per set.

LAST TIME VS. BROWN: Alessa Cekauskas had nine kills and Megan Mushovic posted a match-high 19 digs, but it was Brown that took home a 3-0 victory at the Pizzitola Sports Center. The Bears earned set wins of 25-18, 25-18, 25-17. Cekauskas added five digs to her nine-kill effort, while both Deveney Pula and Juliana Rogers had six kills apiece. Jessica Misse had five kills and five blocks in the middle. Directing the offense was Jordan Reeder with 23 assists in the loss. Cornell hit .150 from the floor and registered 53 digs. Brown hit .291 as a team largely behind big nights from Katrina Post (11 kills), Brianna Williamson (10 kills, nine digs) and Danielle Vaughan (seven kills on .583 hitting, four blocks). The setting duo of Annika Gliottone (24 assists, 10 digs) and Spencer McAndrews (19 assists) combined for 43 assists on the team's 47 kills. Carly Cotton led the Bears with 19 digs. The Big Red raced out to an early 6-1 lead in the first set, but that was the high point, as the Bears caught up at 7-7 and Cornell never took another lead the rest of the night.

IVY RANKINGS: Several Cornell players appear in the Ivy League rankings, including:
* Kelly Hansen – Kills Per Set – 8th – 2.73
* Jordan Reeder – Assists Per Set – 5th – 8.37
* Jordan Reeder – Service Aces Per Set – 9th – 0.24
* Alice Cope – Blocks Per Set – 4th – 0.94

* Risa Ka'awa – Digs Per Set – 4th – 4.46

100 DIGS: Cornell recorded 101 digs against Columbia on Oct. 2, reaching the century mark in a match for the first time since registering 103 digs vs. Yale on Nov. 3, 2007. One week later, Cornell tallied 101 digs vs. Dartmouth, giving the Big Red 100+ digs in back-to-back matches for the first time since 2007.

SECOND TIME'S THE CHARM: For the second straight season, the Big Red has fallen to Columbia in New York City, only to come back and defeat the Lions the following weekend on its home court at Newman Arena.

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK: Freshman Rachel D'Epagnier became Cornell's first Ivy League Rookie of the Week in volleyball since Katie Marshall was honored on Nov. 14, 2007. The freshmen middle blocker earned the honor after posting an 11-kill, 11-block double-double in the Big Red's 3-2 victory over Columbia on Oct. 2. In that match she also led Cornell with a .450 hitting percentage (11-2-20).

BLOCKS A LOT: Rachel D'Epagnier led the Big Red with 11 block assists against Columbia on Oct. 2. The 11 block assists rank ninth in Big Red history for block assists in a single match and are the most registered by a Cornell player since Kelly Hansen tallied 11 at Penn on Nov. 11, 2008.

BIG HITTER: Deveney Pula tallied a career-high 23 kills vs. Columbia on Oct. 2, the most kills registered by a Big Red player since Katie Marshall tallied 23 vs. Brown on Oct. 20, 2007.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE DENIZEN: Jordan Reeder has posted an assist-dig double-double in 9-of-13 matches this season. She was the only Big Red player to record a double-double on the year, before Deveney Pula (23 kills, 18 digs) and Rachel D'Epagnier (11 kills, 11 block assists) registered their first of the season vs. Columbia on Oct. 2.

COMING ON STRONG: After recording less than seven kills per match through the first five matches of the season, freshman Janel Forte has come on strong, reaching double-digit kills in five of the last eight matches.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DIGS: Junior libero Risa Ka'awa has posted double-digit digs in 12-of-13 matches this season.

BEATING THE BIG EAST: Cornell's 3-2 victory over UConn at the Colgate Invitational marked the Big Red's first win over a Big East school since it defeated Syracuse, 3-0, on Oct. 24, 2006 at Newman Arena. Since that time, Cornell has gone 0-4 against the Big East, with three loses against the Orange and one against the Huskies.

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: The Big Red saw four different players named to three different all-tournament teams earlier this season. Kelly Hansen and Jordan Reeder were selected to the Cornell Invitational all-tournament team, while Risa Ka'awa and Madeleine Przybyl were named to the Best Western Falcon Invitational all-tournament team and the Colgate Invitational all-tournament team, respectively.

MARATHON MATCHES: When the Big Red faced Lamar in the final round of the Cornell Invitational on Sept. 4, the game proved to have the longest fifth set (by points) in Cornell history. The match, which went to 23-21 in the final set, eclipsed the previous record by four points. Prior to the Lamar match, the longest fifth set took place at Harvard on Nov. 10, 2007, when Cornell defeated the Crimson, 19-17.

SEASON OPENERS: With its victory over Siena in the opening round of the Cornell Invitational, the Big Red improved to 26-12-1 all-time in season openers. Since 1995, the Big Red is an impressive 14-3 in the first match of the season.

OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: Senior Erin McCarthy and junior Meagan Tatum have been named captains for the 2010 season

FRESH FACES: The Big Red adds six freshmen to the team this season - Rachel D'Epagnier, Janel Forte, Brittany Fox, Ainsley Lovejoy, Kelly Marble and Sierra Young. All six are taller than 5-11, with two of those six standing 6-1 or taller. The incoming class also draws from six different states, with the group representing Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

HI! MY NAME IS … : There is a new face on the Cornell sideline, as Kate Seabaugh, a former standout player at UConn, joins Coach Sarah Bernson's staff as an assistant coach. She joins the staff while working towards a Master of Engineering degree with a concentration in Financial Engineering at Cornell. Prior to Cornell, Seabaugh was a starter for UConn, where she was an outside hitter, but completed her undergraduate honors finance degree in three years, cutting her playing career short. She helped the Huskies advance to the Big East tournament in each of her three seasons and totaled 621 kills and 625 digs in 90 matches played.

UP NEXT: The Big Red returns home for its final non-conference game of the season as it plays host to Syracuse at Newman Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m.