Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red volleyball team gave league-leading Princeton all it could handle, but could not pull out the victory, as the Tigers won in straight sets, 25-23, 29-27 and 25-21. Cornell had one of its best outings of the Ivy League season, but saw its losing streak extended to three games as if falls to 4-14 overall and 2-6 in the Ivy League. With the win, Princeton improves to 11-7 overall and 6-1 in the conference.

Madeleine Przybyl and Alice Cope led the Big Red with 12 and 10 kills, respectively, with Cope hitting .273 (10-4-22) and Przybyl hitting .250 (12-4-32). Pryzbyl also added nine digs and five block assists. Defensive specialist Risa Ka'awa had a match-high 22 digs, while Sierra Young (15), libero Taylor Nieman (12) and Erin McCarthy (11) all had double-digit digs for the Big Red. Setter Jordan Reeder posted 39 assists on the day.

Princeton was led by Cathryn Quinn's 15 kills, while Jennifer Palmquist chipped in 11. Quinn hit an impressive .379 with her 15 kills coming on 29 attempts with just four errors. Five Tigers registered double-digit digs, led by Sydney Brombal's 21, while Michaela Venuti handed out 38 assists.

The Big Red fought back from an early 6-1 deficit in the first set as a kill from Alice Cope sparked a 5-1 scoring run and Cornell pulled within one-point, 7-6. During the run, the Big Red also received two kills from Przybyl and one from McCarthy. The Tigers pushed its lead back to three points on back-to-back kills from Quinn but another kill by McCarthy returned the momentum to the home team and the Big Red used a service ace from Reeder and three blocks to go up 12-10. Pryzbyl had a hand in all three of the blocks, while McCarthy joined on two and Kelly Hansen registered one. The teams traded points to 13-13 before a Princeton block and a kill from Palmquist put the visitors up, 15-13. The Tigers slowly extended their lead to four points, but the Big Red managed to knot the game once more at 23-23 with a kill from Hansen, but that was as close as it would get as Princeton took the 25-23 victory.

The second set proved to be the most competitive with 14 ties and four lead changes. The Big Red got off to a good start as a service ace by McCarthy gave the home team its largest lead of the set, 12-7. Princeton responded with a 6-1 scoring run to knot the game at 13-13 and the teams traded the lead three times to 16-6. A kill by Quinn and an attack error by Cornell gave Princeton the 18-16 lead, but a kill by Przybyl, a block by Hansen and Cope, and a pair of Tiger errors tied the game again at 20-20. The game went back and forth down the stretch with the teams tying seven more times to 27-27 before a kill from Palmquist and a Cornell attack error handed Princeton the 29-27 victory.

After trading points to open the third set, Cornell used two kills from Przybyl, a kill by Reeder and a block from Reeder and Pryzbyl to go up 11-6. The Big Red managed to maintain its lead to 16-11 before Princeton used a 10-3 scoring run to take a 21-19 lead. A kill by Ka'awa brought Cornell back within one, but the Tigers outscored the Big Red 4-1 down the stretch to win the match.

The Big Red remains in Ithaca as it welcomes Harvard and Dartmouth to Newman Arena on Friday, Oct. 29 and Saturday, Oct. 30, respectively. Cornell will face the Crimson at 7 p.m., while the game with the Big Green is slated to begin at 5 p.m.