Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell volleyball team has been on the road for nearly a month, but its home opener proved to be worth the wait, as the Big Red earned a hard-fought 3-2 victory over instate rival Colgate this evening in Newman Arena. The match was a back and forth affair as the teams traded sets with Cornell earning victories in the first, third, and fifth: 25-16, 25-27, 25-22, 10-25, 15-12.

Freshman Breanna Wong was outstanding, registering 18 kills and just four errors on 34 attempts for a .412 hitting percentage.  Junior middle Rachel D'Epagnier was equally impressive, hitting .290 (15-6-31) and registering 10 total blocks (one solo, nine assisted). Kelly Marble posted an 11-kill, 12-dig double-double, while Sarah Okey finished with eight kills and four block assists. Setter Kelly Reinke handed out 49 assists and posted 10 digs, while libero Sierra Young finished with a game-high 16 digs.

Colgate (4-12) had just one player hit in double figures – Diane Seely (10), as the Raiders hit just .170 as a team. Setters Kaylee Fifer and Jackie Macy finished with 25 and 10 assists, respectively and Allie Dyer posted a team-high 12 digs.

Cornell (3-8) won the first set in decisive fashion using a back-to-back service aces by Marble to jump start a 5-1 run that turned a one-point lead into a 13-8 Big Red advantage. Cornell would see the lead balloon to eight points (22-14), thanks to a kill and a service ace by D'Epagnier, as well as consecutive Cornell kills from Wong and Ana Vanjak. The teams traded points the rest of the way before Vanjak and Wong again put down back-to-back kills to account for the 25-16 final.

The Raiders took control of the second set early on, jumping out to a 7-0 lead before the home team came storming back and knotting the set at 18-18 on a service ace from Okey. Behind Okey's strong serving, the Big Red took the 23-20 lead before Colgate took a time out to regroup. The visitors used a Cornell attack error to end the run and then got kills from Fifer and Seely to make it a 23-23 contest. A kill from Wong restored the lead to the Big Red, but a Cornell service error gave the point right back. Fifer and Wong traded kills to make it 25-25 but the Raiders closed out the set with a kill from Lindsay Young and a service ace from Fifer.

Cornell stormed out to a 7-2 lead in the third set behind solid serving from Ainsley Lovejoy and Okey. The visitors fought back to make it 10-8, but that was as close as it would get as the Big Red rattled off six unanswered points and never looked back, outscoring the Raiders 15-3 the rest of the way.

The fourth set was a complete contrast; with Colgate taking a slim 11-9 lead before closing the set on a 14-1 run for the 25-10 victory.

While the decisive fifth set was close throughout, the result was never in doubt. Cornell earned a pair of kills from Wong and a kill from Janel Forte to take an early 3-1 lead that it would never relinquish en route to the 15-12 final. Colgate pulled within a single point on four occasions (3-2; 4-3; 5-4; 7-6) but back-to-back kills by Marble and Wong made it a 9-6 lead and the Big Red led by two points the rest of the way before winning 15-12.

Cornell will hold its 40 Years of Volleyball Celebration next weekend when it plays host to Yale on Friday, Sept. 28 and Brown on Saturday, Sept. 29 in its first full weekend of Ivy League action.