Box Score Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. – For the second straight evening, the Big Red volleyball team took an opponent to a fifth set, but this time Cornell came away with the victory as it defeated Harvard, 3-2, this evening on Senior Night in Newman Arena. All four seniors – Risa Ka'awa, Madeleine Przybyl, Jordan Reeder and Meagan Tatum –played integral roles in securing the victory for the Big Red.

The Crimson took the first set and the fourth set (25-21, 25-23), but Cornell won the second, the third and the fifth (25-17, 25-22, 15-13) to earn its third Ivy victory of the season.

As well as the seniors played, Cornell (5-19, 3-9) was led offensively by a pair of underclassmen with Kelly Marble and Janel Forte tallying 19 and 18 kills, respectively. Tatum and Przybyl were the most efficient hitters on the evening with Tatum hitting .417 (16-1-36) and Przybyl connecting on .333 (11-3-24) to help the Big Red to its best hitting percentage of the season at .279 (74-21-190) for the match. 

Przybyl had a solid game all-around, also finishing with 17 digs and seven block assists.

Sophomore setter Kelly Reinke finished the evening with a game-high 35 assists, while Reeder posted a 31-assist, 11-dig double-double. Rounding out the performances from the seniors was Ka'awa, who led the defense with a match-high 35 digs, 14 more than any other player on the court, to help Cornell to 102 team digs.

Like the Big Red, Harvard (11-11, 4-8) was very efficient offensively, hitting .205 as a team and was led by a trio of hitters in double-digits – Taylor Doctor (16), Teresa Skelly (13) and Sandra Lynn Fryhofer (13).

Setters Beth Kinsella and Natalie Doyle finished with 32 and 19 assists, respectively, while libero Christine Wu tallied 21 digs.

The first set was highly entertaining, with both teams hitting the ball well and forcing five ties and two lead changes. It was a back-and-forth affair to 16-16 when kills by Fryhofer and Katherine Ingersoll, coupled with a Big Red error, gave Harvard a 19-16 advantage. Cornell used a timeout to regroup and pulled back within one-point (19-18) but three unanswered Crimson points proved to be the difference, as the visitors when up 22-18 and then traded points with Cornell to the 25-21 victory.

Cornell took control of the second set early on, jumping out to a 7-3 lead, thanks in large part to three kills from Forte, two kills from Marble and a kill from Przybyl. The Big Red eventually extended its lead to 10 points (17-7) on a service ace from Przybyl and kept at least a six-point lead the rest of the way as it cruised to the 25-17 victory.  

The third and fourth sets were tense battles, with the third set seeing 13 ties and six lead changes en route to the 25-22 Big Red victory, while the fourth set had 14 ties and six lead changes in the 25-23 Crimson victory. 

In the final set, Cornell stormed out to a 7-2 lead, but the Crimson slowly chipped its way back into the set, using an 8-2 run to take its first lead at 10-9. A kill by Tatum knotted the game at 10-10 and sparked a 4-0 run with a pair of kills coming from Marble and a kill from Pryzbyl to put the home team back up, 13-10. Harvard pulled within one point (13-12), but a kill by Tatum returned a two-point cushion to the Cornell. Fryhofer gave the Crimson some hope with a kill on the next play, but fittingly enough; seniors Przybyl and Tatum ended the match when they blocked an attack from Doctor to give the Big Red the 15-13 victory. 

Cornell wraps up its season on the road next weekend as it travels to Princeton and Penn on Friday, Nov. 11 and Saturday, Nov. 12, respectively. The game against the Tigers is scheduled for 7 p.m., while the game against the Quakers is slated for 5 p.m.