MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #16: Cornell vs. Yale
MATCH TIME: Friday, Oct. 18, 2013; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale Leads, 34-25
LAST MEETING: Yale, 3-1; Oct. 27, 2012 (New Haven, Conn.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (6-9, 2-3 Ivy); Yale (11-3, 5-0 Ivy)
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wvball/
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/

MATCH #17: Cornell vs. Brown
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 19, 2013; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell Leads, 38-20
LAST MEETING: Brown, 3-1; Oct. 26, 2012 (Providence, R.I.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (6-9, 2-3 Ivy); Brown (7-9, 3-2 Ivy)*
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wvball/
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/

* Records prior to Oct. 18

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red volleyball team will look to close out the first half of the Ivy League season on a high note when it welcomes Yale and Brown to Newman Arena this weekend. Cornell will take on the first-place Bulldogs in its annual Dig Pink game on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m., before facing the Bears on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 5 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear pink on Friday evening and can donate to the Cornell cause at:  https://www.side-out.org/cb/campaigns/campaign/7219.



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 10 meetings, improving its lead in the all-time series to 34-25.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale ran its Ivy League winning streak to 19 games last weekend when it defeated Penn and Princeton to improve to 5-0 in the conference and 11-3 overall. Not surprisingly, the Bulldogs lead the conference in kills, hitting percentage, hitting percentage defense, assists, digs and service aces. Additionally, Jess Ebner leads the Ivy League in hitting percentage (.422), and is one of three Bulldogs, joining Mollie Rogers and Brittani Steinberg to rank in the conference's top 10 in kills per set. Defensively, Maddie Rudnick ranks second in the Ivy League with 4.65 digs per set.

LAST TIME VS. YALE: The Big Red gave Yale, the only undefeated team left in the Ivy League, all it could handle on Oct. 27, 2012, winning the first set and coming tantalizingly close to winning the second before the Bulldogs rallied to earn the 3-1 victory in Lee Amphitheater. Cornell earned the 28-26 victory in the first set before falling, 23-25, 12-25 and 12-25. Cornell was led by Sierra Young's 13 kills. The junior outside hitter posted a solid .216 hitting percentage (13-5-37) and finished the night with six digs and one service ace. Kelly Marble was the only other Big Red player to reach double-digits for kills (10), and she came one dig shy of a double-double (9). Rachel D'Epagnier continued her hot streak, posting an impressive .318 hitting percentage with eight kills and only one error on 22 attempts. Setter Kelly Reinke finished the game with 36 assists and 14 digs and libero Brittany Kalepa posted a team-high 15 digs.  Yale had four players reach double figures kills – Jess Ebner (12), Kendall Polan (11), Kelly Johnson (11), McHaney Carter (10) – and hit and impressive .307 as a team (57-15-137). Polan also led the Bulldogs in assists (31) and digs (14), while Johnson finished with 21 assists. Libero Maddie Rudnick and Mollie Rogers posted 13 digs apiece.

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 38-20 record in the all-time series, winning 18 of the last 25 meetings, including six of the last 10 contests.

SCOUTING THE BEARS: Brown sits directly above the Big Red in the Ivy League standings after defeating Princeton last weekend to improve to 3-2 in the conference and 7-9 overall. The Bears are led by Thea Derrough's .324 hitting percentage, while Maddie Lord has a team-best 2.57 kills per set. A pair of Brown players – Kathryn Conner (fifth – 3.50) and Alexandra Rieckhoff (ninth – 3.27) – rank in the top 10 in the conference for digs per set.

LAST TIME VS. BROWN: The Big Red dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to Brown on Oct. 26, 2012 at the Pizzitola Center, with the Bears winning 26-24, 25-15, 23-25, 25-20. Cornell got an outstanding performance from Rachel D'Epagnier, who finished the night with a career-best 16 kills and only three errors on 32 attempts for a  blistering .406 hitting percentage. She also registered five blocks (three solo, two assists) and had three digs. D'Epagnier was joined in double-digits by Kelly Marble and Sierra Young with 11 kills apiece.  Marble also led the team with 17 digs, while Young and libero Brittany Kalepa each tallied 11 digs. Setters Kelly Reinke and Lucy Zheng split time and finished with 21 and 18 assists, respectively. Brown was led by Taylor Bantle and Brittany Link with nine kills apiece, with Bantle also hitting a robust .471 (9-1-17) to lead the Bears. Kathryn Connor had a game-high 20 digs, with Alexandra Rieckhoff tallying 18. Setter Maryl Vanden Bos tallied 24 assists, with Rachele Killian chipping in 10. The Bears finished the night with a higher hitting percentage (.170 - .140) and also held the edge in service aces (9-3) and total blocks (9.0-7.0).

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose is in her second season at Cornell (15-25, .375) ... Batie-Smoose became the 10th coach in Cornell volleyball history in April 2012 ... She has a 102-87 (.540) record as a head coach, including a mark of 81-43 (.653) at Savannah College of Art & Design.

FAST START: The Big Red's 2-1 start to the Ivy League season was its best since the 2008 team opened the year 3-0 before falling to Princeton.

DIG IT: Junior libero Natasha Rowland entered the week ranked first in the Ivy League and ranked 25th in the nation in digs per set (5.02) … She posted a career-high 36 digs vs. Columbia on Sept. 28, a mark that is seventh best all-time in Cornell history for digs in a match. Altogether, Rowland has posted four of the top 20 performances in Cornell history, ranking 14th with her 34 digs vs. Rutgers, 16th with her 33 digs vs. LIU Brooklyn and 18th with her 32 digs against Princeton (Oct. 22).

MOVING ON UP: With her 29 dig performance against Binghamton, junior libero Natasha Rowland jumped into the top 20 at Cornell for digs in a single season, moving into 19th place with 330. She needs just 32 more digs to move into the top 10, surpassing Jen Strazza, who currently ranks 10th overall with 361 digs in 1991 … The school record is held by Megan Mushovic, who registered 598 digs during the 2007 season.

100 WINS: Coach Melissa Batie-Smoose notched the 100th victory of her coaching career in the Ivy League opener against Columbia.

ON THE BLOCK: Senior Rachel D'Epagnier is steadily moving up the Cornell all-time list for career blocks. She currently ranks seventh overall in block assists (235) and needs just five more to pass Elizabeth Bishop (sixth – 239). She is eighth overall in total blocks (286), needing 12 more to pass Joanne Weiss (seventh – 297) and is 11th in block solos (51), needing just three more to move into a 10th place tie with Janelle Kenny (10th – 54).

IN THE RANKINGS: Several Cornell players are raked in the top 10 of various Ivy League statistical categories, including:
*Macey Wilson – eighth in hitting percentage (.305)
*Breanna Wong – sixth in kills per set (2.89)
*Alyssa Phelps – first in assists per set (8.77)
*Sierra Young – fourth in service aces per set (0.37)
*Rachel D'Epagnier – third in blocks per set (1.09)
*Macey Wilson – fifth in blocks per set (1.02)
*Natasha Rowland - first in digs per set (5.08)
*Breanna Wong - ninth in points per set (3.03)

THE BIG BLOCKER: Sept. 7 was a big day for freshman Macey Wilson. The middle blocker had back-to-back games in which she posted a career-high nine block assists. With her nine blocks vs. Iona, she placed ninth in Cornell history for blocks in a four-set match, while her nine stops against Bucknell is good for 15th place in Big Red history for blocks in a five-set match.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: For the first time in her young career, Breanna Wong has been named the Ivy League Player of the Week. It is the first conference weekly award earned by Wong, who becomes the Big Red's first Player of the Week selection since Rachel D'Epagnier earned the honor in the final week of the 2012 season. Wong lead the Big Red with 3.64 kills per set while hitting .301 in the Blackbird Invitational. She was particularly impressive in Cornell's victory over Fairfield, posting a team-high 12 kills (4.0 per set) and hitting .450.

ALL-TOURANMENT TEAM:
* Rachel D'Epagnier and Breanna Wong were both named to the Cornell Invitational All-Tournament Team.
*Brenna Wong was named to the Blackbird Invitational All-Tournament Team after leading the Big Red to a 1-2 record on the weekend including a sweep and a heart-breaking loss.
*Rachel D'Epagnier and Breanna Wong were both named to the Panther Invitational All-Tournament Team.

UP NEXT: The Big Red will open a five game road trip next weekend as it begins the second half of Ivy League play at Columbia on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m.