MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #15: Cornell vs. Syracuse
MATCH TIME: Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2010; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Syracuse leads, 31-9-1
LAST MEETING: Syracuse won, 3-0, Sept. 23, 2009 in Syracuse, N.Y.
2010 RECORDS: Cornell (4-11, 2-4 Ivy); Syracuse (20-3, 3-3 Big East)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wvball/index.htm
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/

THE MATCH-UP: Coming off a big win at Brown on Saturday, the Big Red volleyball team will look to keep the momentum going as it opens a five-game home-stand by welcoming instate rival Syracuse to Newman Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. The Orange is coming off just its third loss of the season, as it was swept by Marquette on Saturday to fall to 20-3 on the year.

THE SERIES VS. SYRACUSE: The Big Red has a rich history against Syracuse with their first match dating back to 1972. The Orange lead the series 31-9-1, and have won the last three meetings after the Big Red earned a 3-0 victory in 2006 at Newman Arena.

SCOUTING THE ORANGE: Syracuse opened the season on a 17-game winning streak, but has split its first six Big East games to run its record to 20-3 overall and 3-3 in the conference. The team is led by Noemie Lefebvre and Hayley Todd with 3.44 and 3.05 kills per set, respectively. Lefebvre is also second on the team with 2.80 digs per set, with defensive specialist Ashley Williams recording a team-high 3.42 per set. The Orange has proven to be a force at the net, recording 2.25 blocks per set as a team thanks in large part to Lindsay McCabe (1.09), Samantha Hinz (0.92) and Todd (0.75). Setter Laura Homann is averaging 10.79 assists per set.

LAST TIME VS. SYRACUSE: The Cornell women's volleyball team fell to in-state rival Syracuse, 3-0, on Sept. 23 at Manley Field House. After narrowly falling in set one, 25-20, the Big Red dropped the next two sets, 25-15 and 25-12. Cornell was led by Deveney Pula with seven kills and seven digs, while Juliana Rogers and Jessica Misse chipped in six and five kills, respectively. Jordan Reeder registered 16 assists, while Megan Mushovic had six digs. Syracuse was led by Hayley Todd, who registered 10 kills and just three errors on 17 attempts for a .412 kill percentage. Laura Homann ran the offense with 31 assists, while Shanetha McLaurin registered a game-high 13 digs.

A WIN OVER THE ORANGE WOULD:
* give Cornell back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
* be the second-straight victory against a Big East opponent.

VS. THE BIG EAST: Cornell is 23-46-1 against the current members of the Big East, thanks mostly to a 9-31-1 record against Syracuse. UConn is the only team that the Big Red has a winning record against (5-2), but Cornell has an even slate against Notre Dame (1-1), Providence (1-1), Rutgers (2-2), Seton Hall (2-2) and Villanova (2-1). The Big Red has a losing record against Georgetown (1-2), Louisville (0-1) and St. John's (0-2), but has never faced Cincinnatti, DePaul, Marquette, Pittsburgh, South Florida or West Virginia.

IVY RANKINGS: Several Cornell players appear in the Ivy League rankings, including:
* Kelly Hansen – Kills Per Set – 8th – 2.67
* Jordan Reeder – Assists Per Set – 5th – 8.36
* Jordan Reeder – Service Aces Per Set – 8th – 0.23
* Madeleine Przybyl – Blocks Per Set – 6th – 0.93
* Alice Cope – Blocks Per Set – 7th – 0.86
* Risa Ka'awa – Digs Per Set – 7th – 4.21

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 had gone 0-4 against the Big East, with three loses against the Orange and one against the Huskies.

HITTING HIGHS: The Big Red recorded a team hitting percentage of .233 against Brown on Oct. 16, the highest hitting percentage so far this season. It is only the second time since the start of the 2009 season that Cornell has hit that well against an Ivy League team (.266 vs. Columbia on Oct. 3).

BLOCKING BROWN: Cornell registered 14 total blocks against Brown on Oct. 16, which matched a season-high for the squad. The Big Red had previously recorded 14 team blocks against Colgate.

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-15 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 six of the last 10 matches.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DIGS: Junior libero Risa Ka'awa has posted double-digit digs in 12-of-15 matches this season.

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 remains in Ithaca, but returns to Ivy League play as it welcomes Penn and Princeton to Newman Arena on Friday, Oct. 22 and Saturday, Oct. 23, respectively. Cornell will face the Quakers at 7 p.m., while the game with the Tigers is slated to begin at 5 p.m.