MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #23: Cornell vs. Brown
MATCH TIME: Friday, Nov. 12, 2010; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 36-17
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-1, Oct. 16, 2010 in Providence, R.I.
2010 RECORDS: Cornell (4-18, 2-10 Ivy); Brown (8-16, 2-10 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.CornellBigRed.com

MATCH #24: Cornell vs. Yale
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Nov. 13, 2010; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale leads, 29-25
LAST MEETING: Yale won, 3-0, Oct. 15, 2010 in New Haven, Conn.
2010 RECORDS: Cornell (4-18, 2-10 Ivy); Yale (16-7, 10-2 Ivy) *
LIVE STATS: www.CornellBigRed.com
LIVE VIDEO: www.CornellBigRed.com

* Records prior to Friday evening's contests

THE MATCH-UP: The Big Red volleyball team wraps up its season this weekend as it plays host to Brown and Yale on Friday, Nov. 12 and Saturday, Nov. 13, respectively. Cornell (4-18, 2-10) will face the Bears at 7 p.m., while the game with the Bulldogs is slated to begin at 5 p.m. On Saturday evening, the Big Red will also say goodbye to its two seniors – Alessa Cekauskas and Erin McCarthy. The game is a double-header with the women's basketball team, which opens its season against Cleveland State at 2 p.m., and one ticket will admit you to both contests. Additionally, anyone wearing red will be admitted to the game for free.

LAST WEEKEND:


SENIOR SALUTE: Saturday's game will be the final contest for seniors Alessa Cekauskas and Erin McCarthy.

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 36-17 record in the all-time series, winning 16 of the last 20 meetings, including four of the last five contests.

SCOUTING THE BEARS: Brown split a pair of games last weekend, losing to Harvard before defeating Dartmouth to improve to 8-16 overall and 2-10 in the Ivy League.Emma Pastore and Katrina post lead the team with 2.78 and 2.58 kills per set, respectively, but Kathryn Glickman owns a team-best .236 hitting percentage (108-42-280). Setter Alexandra Rieckhoff ranks second in the conference with 9.79 assist per set, while defensive specialist Annika Gliottone is fifth overall with 4.47 dig per set.

LAST TIME VS. BROWN: The Big Red defeated Brown, 3-1, at Pizzatola Center in Providence, R.I. Cornell fought back from a 25-23 loss in the first set to take the next three, 25-18, 26-24 and 25-18. Janel Forte and Erin McCarthy both registered 16 kills, with McCarthy hitting an impressive .368 (16-2-38) and adding 10 digs for her first double-double of the season. Kelly Hansen also chipped in eight kills, while Madeleine Przybyl posted eight block assists and one solo block. Setter Jordan Reeder had a solid day with 41 assists, eight block assists, six digs and two kills. Defensively, libero Taylor Nieman registered 23 digs and defensive specialist Risa Ka'awa registered nine. Brown (6-12, 0-6 Ivy) had three players register double-digit kills with Emma Pastore (13), Thea Derrough (13) and Katrina Post (10) leading the way. The Bears also had three players with double-digit digs, including Annika Gliottone (16), Bailey Wendzel (15) and Post (10). Setter Alexandra Rieckhoff tallied 41 assists and eight digs.

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 five meetings, improving its lead in the all-time series to 29-25.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS Yale swept both Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend to remain in first place in the conference standings and it takes a record of 16-7 overall (10-2 Ivy) into Friday's game against Columbia. Haley Wessels and Bridget Hearst lead the Bulldogs attack, with Wessels ranking third in the Ivy League with a .314 hitting percentage, while Hearst is fourth overall with 3.46 kills per set. Erica Reetz is alsow averaging more than three kills per set (3.04). Setter Kendall Polan is third in the conference with 9.20 assists per set, while Kelly Ozurovich is second in the league and 21st in the nation with 5.35 digs per set.

LAST TIME VS. YALE: The Big Red fell on the road to Yale, 3-0, at Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn. The Bulldogs swept the match in straight sets, 25-13, 25-17, 25-13, to improve to 9-7 on the season (3-2 Ivy). Kelly Hansen led the Big Red with eight kills and just one error on 14 attempts for an impressive .500 hitting percentage to go along with two block assists, while Madeliene Przybyl chipped in five kills and four block assists. Setter Jordan Reeder assisted on 22 of Cornell's 24 kills and libero Taylor Nieman posted 16 digs. Yale had three hitters in double-figures as Haley Wessels (12), Erica Reetz (10) and Katie Cordell (10) led an offense that hit .336 for the match. The setting duo of Kendall Polan and Kerry Clavadetscher registered 23 and 17 assists, respectively. On defense Cordell and Kelly Ozurovich tallied 13 digs apiece, while Reetz posted 11.

IVY RANKINGS: Cornell players rank among the top 10 in the Ivy League in several statistical categories, including:
* Kelly Hansen – Kills Per Set – 9th – 2.65
* Jordan Reeder – Assists Per Set – 5th – 8.82
* Jordan Reeder – Service Aces Per Set – 9th – 0.23
* Madeleine Przybyl – Blocks Per Set – 8th – 0.91
* Madeleine Przybyl – Hitting Percentage – 10th – .278
* Risa Ka'awa – Digs Per Set – 9th – 3.68

BLOCK PARTY: With her seven block assists last weekend, Kelly Hansen moved into ninth place in Cornell history for block assists with 196. She needs just nine more to move into eighth place.

MAY I ASSIST YOU?: With her 21 assists against Princeton on Nov. 6, Jordan Reeder surpassed Amy Korioth (1,350 assists; 1988-90) to move into ninth place in Cornell history for career assists. The junior setter has accumulated 1,363 assists in just 252 sets and needs 334 more assists to move into eighth place.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE DENIZEN: Jordan Reeder has posted an assist-dig double-double in 12-of-22 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.

DOUBLE-DIGIT DIGS: Junior libero Risa Ka'awa has posted double-digit digs in 14-of-22 matches this season.

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.

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.

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.