MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #18: Cornell vs. Columbia
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013; 2:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Levien Gym (New York, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell Leads, 47-10
LAST MEETING: Cornell, 3-2; Sept. 28, 2013 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (6-11, 2-5 Ivy); Columbia (5-11, 3-4 Ivy)
Live Stats: http://www.GoColumbiaLions.com
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red volleyball team will look to get back to its winning ways on Saturday, Oct. 26 when it travels to New York City to take on Columbia at Levien Gymnasium at 2 p.m. The match will be the first of a five game road trip as Cornell begins the second half of Ivy League play. 


THE SERIES VS. COLUMBIA: The Big Red and the Lions have played 57 times dating back to 1977, with Cornell holding a dominating 47-10 record in the all-time series. The Big Red will look for a season sweep off the Lions in this second meeting of the season. Despite the .825 series winning percentage, the Big Red had a four-match losing streak against Columbia before defeating them in the Ivy League opener this season.

SCOUTING THE LIONS: Columbia comes into the competition against Cornell sporting a 5-11 record overall and a mark of 3-4 in the Ivy League. Like Cornell, the Lions fell to Yale last weekend but managed to sweep Brown. Columbia's defensive effort has been the highlight of its season. The Lions are tied for first place in the Ivy League in blocks per set, averaging 2.21 per contest. Katarina Jovicic, Savannah Fletcher, and Kesi Neblett lead the way each averaging just a shade under one block per set. Behind the block, Columbia ranks third in the conference with 15.96 digs per set with both Lanti Moye-McLaren (sixth – 3.37) and Molly Winger (eighth – 3.29) ranking in the top 10 in the league in digs per set.  Offensively, Columbia ranks third in the Ivy League in kills, supported by Bailey Springer's 3.42 per set, ranking her second overall in the conference. Setter Jennifer Petrovich runs the offense and ranks fifth in the conference in assists per set with 7.62.

LAST TIME VS. COLUMBIA: The Big Red volleyball team snapped a four-game losing streak to Columbia on Sept. 28, defeating the Lions, 3-2, in Newman Arena for the first time since Oct. 2, 2010. Cornell battled back twice to even the match and force a decisive fifth set, which it won decisively, 15-8. The Big Red was led by Breanna Wong and Sarah Kramer with 19 and 15 kills, respectively, while middle blockers Rachel D'Epagnier and Macey Wilson finished with nine kills apiece. D'Epagnier also finished with eight blocks, while Sarah Hunt chipped in six. Setter Alyssa Phelps posted 45 assists, 13 digs and six kills, while libero Natasha Rowland had another big game, posting a career-high 36 digs and eight assists. The 36-dig performance put Rowland in a tie for the seventh best performance in Cornell history.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose is in her second season at Cornell (15-27, .357) ... Batie-Smoose became the 10th coach in Cornell volleyball history in April 2012 ... She has a 102-89 (.534) record as a head coach, including a mark of 81-43 (.653) at Savannah College of Art & Design.

DIG IT: Junior libero Natasha Rowland entered the week ranked first in the Ivy League and ranked 26th in the nation in digs per set (5.04) … 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 33 combined digs against Yale and Brown last weekend, junior libero Natasha Rowland moved into 10th place in Cornell history with 363 digs on the season. She will move up the leader board again if she can finish with 26 digs at Columbia this weekend to match Kelly Kramer's 389 dig performance during the 2003 season. 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 fifth overall in block assists (244) and needs 18 more to pass Joanna Weiss (fourth – 262). She is sixth overall in total blocks (301), and is 10th in block solos (57), needing 12 more to move into an ninth place tie with Erika Migliore (69).

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 (.298)
*Breanna Wong – fifth in kills per set (2.99)
*Alyssa Phelps – first in assists per set (8.74)
*Sierra Young – fourth in service aces per set (0.38)
*Rachel D'Epagnier – first in blocks per set (1.19)
*Macey Wilson – third in blocks per set (1.08)
*Natasha Rowland - first in digs per set (5.04)
*Breanna Wong - tenth in points per set (3.15)

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.

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.

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.
*Breanna 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 continue the second half of Ivy League play when it once again hits the road headed south next weekend with scheduled matches against Penn (Oct. 1, 7:00 p.m.) and Princeton (Oct. 2, 5:00 p.m.).