MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #21: Cornell vs. Brown
MATCH TIME: Friday, Oct. 28, 2011; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 36-19
LAST MEETING: Brown won, 3-2, on Oct. 1, 2011
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (3-17, 1-7); Brown (6-13, 2-6)
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/wvball/
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/

MATCH #22: Cornell vs. Yale
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 29, 2011; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale leads, 31-25
LAST MEETING: Yale won, 3-0, on Sept. 30, 2011
2011 RECORDS: Cornell (3-17, 1-7); Yale (13-5, 7-1)
LIVE STATS: http://livestats.internetconsult.com/cornell/wvball/
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.cornellbigred.com/showcase/

* Records prior to Friday, Oct. 28

THE MATCH UP: The Big Red volleyball team opens a four-game home stand this weekend as it welcomes Brown and Yale to Newman Arena on Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29, respectively. The game with the Bears is slated to begin at 7 p.m., while the game against the Bulldogs will begin at 5 p.m. Both live stats and live video streaming will be available online at www.CornellBigRed.com.

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 36-19 record in the all-time series, winning 16 of the last 22 meetings, including four of the last seven contests.

SCOUTING THE BEARS: Brown lost its last two games last weekend to fall to 6-13 overall and 2-6 in the Ivy League. The Bears are led by Maddie Lord with 3.44 kills per set, while setter Alexandra Rieckhoff is handing out 7.86 assists per set. Defensively, libero Annika Gilottone averages 4.91 digs per set.

LAST TIME VS. BROWN: In its closest Ivy League match of the season, the Big Red was edged by Brown, 3-2, on Oct. 1 at the Pizzitola Center in Providence, R.I.  The Bears earned the victory with wins in the first, third and fifth sets, scoring 25-23, 16-25, 28-26, 19-25, 16-14. Cornell was led by the duo of Madeleine Przybyl and Kelly Marble with 18 and 14 kills, respectively. Przybyl also hit an impressive .316 (18-6-38), while Marble connected on .281 (14-5-32). Alice Cope also had a solid outing with nine kills and just two errors on 22 attempts for a .218 hitting percentage. Freshman setter Kelly Reinke had a career-high 26 assists and seven digs, while Jordan Reeder finished the night with 22 assists and six digs. Libero Risa Ka'awa had a team-high 21 digs as one of three players to register double-digit digs, as she was joined by Marble (12) and Przybyl (10).For the match, Cornell hit .200 (55-23-160) and finished with 12 team blocks, thanks in large part to Cope, who racked up five block assists and three solo blocks. Brown also had a pair of hitters reach double-digit kills, led by Thea Derrough's 19 kills and Kathryn Glickman's 13 kills. Setter Annika Gliottone ran the offense, handing out 52 assists and posting 17 digs, while libero Alexandra Rieckhoff had a match-high 24 digs. Derrough and Savannah Holte also registered 11 and 10 digs, respectively.

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 seven meetings, improving its lead in the all-time series to 31-25.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale (13-5, 7-1) has won its last two outings after registering its only Ivy League loss of the season so far at Princeton, 3-1, on Oct. 14.  The Bulldogs are the reigning Ivy League champions and they are led by the reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, setter Kendall Polan, who leads the conference with 10.55 assists per set. Yale has four players averaging more than 2.00 kills per set, led by Mollie Rogers with 3.14 and Allie Frappier with 2.72. Rogers also averages 3.51 digs per set, second only to libero Maddie Rudnick with 4.30.

LAST TIME VS. YALE: The reigning Ivy League champion Yale Bulldogs defeated the Big Red, 3-0, on Sept. 30 in the Lee Amphitheater in New Haven, Conn. The Bulldogs took the straight-set victory, 25-18, 25-15, 25-22. Madeleine Przybyl led the Big Red with 10 kills and an outstanding .421 hitting percentage (10-2-19), while sophomores Rachel D'Epagnier and Kelly Marble finished with five kills apiece. The setting duo of Jordan Reeder and Kelly Reinke tallied 13 and 10 assists, respectively, while libero Risa Ka'awa registered a team-high 18 digs.  As a team, Cornell finished with seven total blocks, thanks in large part to five block assists from D'Epagnier. Yale was led by Allie Frappier and Mollie Rogers with 12 and 10 kills, respectively. Setter Kendall Polan posted a 37-assist, 14-dig double-double and libero Maddie Rudnick registered a match-high 30 digs. The Bulldogs finished the match with a solid .221 hitting percentage (47-18-131).

MOVING ON UP: Several Big Red players are steadily making their way up the Cornell career record lists. Senior setter Jordan Reeder ranks seventh all-time in career assists (1873) and 15th overall in career digs (768). She would need 287 more assists to move into sixth place and 88 more digs to move into 15th place. Senior Risa Ka'awa is eighth all-time in career digs (973) and needs just 24 more to move into seventh place, while senior Madeleine Przybyl is 16th overall in career block assists (158) and needs 31 more to move into 15th place.

IN THE BLOCKING RANKS: Cornell is ranked third in the Ivy League in blocks (2.09 per set) with junior Alice Cope ranking second in the conference with 1.30 blocks per set.

PRZYBYL POWERING UP: Senior middle blocker Madeleine Przybyl has been on a tear lately, registering double-digit kills in seven of the Big Red's last 10 matches after registering more than 10 kills just once through the first 10 matches of the season. Through those first 10 matches, Przybyl averaged 1.8 kills per set while hitting just .129 (55-33-171). Over the past 10 matches, she has recorded 2.87 kills per set and she also has a team-best .255 hitting percentage (112-42-274).

ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM: The Big Red showed some great balance through the first three weekends of the season with three different players earning all-tournament team honors. Sophomore outside hitter Janel Forte was named to the Cornell Invitational All-Tournament team after leading the Big Red over the course of four matches with a .250 hitting percentage and 2.54 kills per set. The following weekend, senior rightside hitter Meagan Tatum was named to the VCU Invitational All-Tournament team. Tatum posted 2.75 kills per set and finished with 1.0 blocks per set. In the final tournament of the season, senior setter Jordan Reeder earned All-Tournament team honors at the Blue and White Classic with 8.55 assists per set.

SEASON OPENERS: Cornell is 27-12-1 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: Seniors Risa Ka'awa, Madeleine Przybyl and Meagan Tatum have been named captains for the 2011 season

FRESH FACES: The Big Red adds four freshmen to the team this season - Sarah Hunt (Arlington Heights, Ill.), Sarah Okey (Clarksville, Md.), Kelly Reinke (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) and Natasha Rowland (Palm Harbor, Fla.). The group is well-balanced, consisting of a middle blocker, an outside hitter, a setter and a libero. The incoming class also draws from three different states, with the group representing Florida, Illinois and Maryland.

HI! MY NAME IS … : There is a new face on the Cornell sideline, as Patrick Lynch joins Coach Sarah Bernson's staff as an assistant coach. He joins the staff while pursuing an MBA in Cornell's Johnson School of Management. Lynch had a four-year career with the University of Illinois men's volleyball club team. During his time with the Fighting Illini, he also spent three seasons as a volunteer assistant for the nationally ranked women's varsity program. After graduating in 2004 with a bachelor of science degree in kinesiology, Lynch became an Infantry Officer with the 1st Marine Division where he led over 300 combat missions in Iraq and was awarded the Navy Commendation and Navy Achievement Medals for actions in combat. Lynch went on to become a Training Officer and eventually an Operations Officer at the Camp Fuji Training Center in Shizouka, Japan.

UP NEXT: The Big Red remains in Ithaca for its final home games of the season next weekend as it welcomes Dartmouth and Harvard to Newman Arena on Friday, Nov. 4 and Saturday, Nov. f, respectively. Cornell will face the Big Green at 7 p.m., while the game with the Crimson is slated to begin at 5 p.m. The game against Harvard will also be the Big Red's Senior Day celebration as Cornell honors Risa Ka'awa, Madeleine Przybyl, Jordan Reeder and Meagan Tatum.