MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #19: Cornell vs. Penn
MATCH TIME: Friday, Nov. 1, 2013; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: The Palestra (Philadelphia, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 39-24
LAST MEETING: Penn, 3-2; Oct. 5, 2013 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (7-11, 3-5 Ivy); Penn (10-9, 4-4 Ivy)
Live Stats: http://www.PennAthletics.com
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/

MATCH #19: Cornell vs. Princeton
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013; 2:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Dillon Gym (Princeton, N.J.)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton Leads, 46-19
LAST MEETING: Cornell, 3-1; Oct. 4, 2013 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (7-11, 3-5 Ivy); Princeton (6-12, 2-6 Ivy)
Live Stats: http://www.GoPrincetonTigers.com
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red will look to build off last weekend's victory over Columbia when they hit the road southbound for a pair of matches against the Penn and Princeton. Cornell will face the Quakers on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Tigers on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 5 p.m. The Big Red split the weekend series against these two squads in Ithaca early in October, dropping a heart-breaking five set contest to Penn after defeating Princeton, 3-1.


THE SERIES VS. PENN:  Cornell and Penn first met in 1974, a 2-0 Big Red victory. The Quakers went on to dominate the series for the rest of the 1970s and '80s, accounting for its 39-24 all-time lead, but since 2000 the series has been much more equal with Penn owning a slim 12-10 advantage, including a five-set victory earlier this season.

SCOUTING THE QUAKERS: Penn comes into the matchup with Cornell sitting a game above .500 at 10-9 (4-4 Ivy). The Quakers are on a two game win streak, completing a season-sweep over Princeton last weekend, and have won three of their last four contests. Kristen Etterbeek and Jasmine DeSilva lead the hitting attack, averaging 2.51 and 2.41 kills per set, respectively. Susan Stuecheli has been Penn's most efficient hitter, converting at a .341 clip. Dani Sheppard has been crucial for the squad both at the service line and in the defensive effort, ranking fourth in the Ivy League with 0.44 service aces per set, and averaging 5.50 digs per set, a number that would lead the Ivy League if not for the fact that she has only played in 50-of-80 sets, just short of the 66.7 percent required to be listed in the rankings. Stuecheli leads the blocking effort, averaging 0.88 per set.

LAST TIME VS. PENN: The Big Red took a 2-1 lead but couldn't hold off Penn, who came roaring back to win a five-set thriller, handing Cornell its first conference loss of the season. Cornell had three players register double-digit kills – Breanna Wong (17), Sarah Kramer (15) and Rachel D'Epagnier (10) – with both Wong and D'Epagnier being extremely efficient, posting .260 and .320 hitting percentages, respectively. D'Epagnier was also huge at the net, registering a game-high eight total blocks (three solo). Kramer also finished with six block assists. Setter Alyssa Phelps tallied 43 assists, nine digs and three block assists and libero Natasha Rowland posted a game-high 32 digs. Penn was led by Arielle Winfield and Alex Caldwell with 13 kills apiece, while Alexis Genske finished with 10. Caldwell also posted 34 assists and 10 digs while splitting setting duties with Ronnie Bither, who finished with 19 assists. In addition to Caldwell, Kristen Etterbeek (19), Dani Shepard (16), and Genske (17) registered double-digit digs. The Quakers stormed out to a 6-2 lead in the final, decisive set, but the Big Red managed to claw its way back and put the result in doubt. Back-to-back kills from Grayce Campbell, followed by a kill and a solo block from D'Epagnier knotted the game at 13-13, but consecutive kills from Caldwell ended the set and gave the Quakers the 15-13 decision.

THE SERIES VS. PRINCETON: As is true for the series against Penn, Cornell's series with Princeton began in the 1974 season, a 2-0 Big Red victory. The Tigers have dominated the series since, owning a 46-19 record against Cornell, and had won the last 11 straight meetings until Cornell was victorious in the final weekend of the 2012 season. The Big Red, which won the first meeting of the 2013 season, 3-1, will look for its first season sweep of the Tigers since 2004. That year, Cornell won three consecutive matches against Princeton, as four teams – Cornell, Princeton, Harvard and Yale – tied for first place in the conference and a series of playoff games were used to determine the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The Big Red then won the first match of the 2005 season to stretch its winning streak to four straight, Cornell's longest winning streak in the series with the Tigers. 

SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Princeton entered the weekend on a five-game skid to slip to 6-12 overall and 2-6 in the Ivy League. The Tigers last victory also came in conference play against Columbia on Oct. 5. The team is led by Kendall Peterkin (3.46) and Cara Mattaliano (3.05), who both average more than 3.0 kills per set, while Tiana Woolridge is the squad's most consistent hitter, putting away .353 of her attempts (120-35-241). Setter Lauren Miller ranks third in the conference with 8.34 assists per set, while libero Sarah Daschbach ranks fourth in the circuit with 3.72 digs per set.

LAST TIME VS. PRINCETON: The Big Red - put together one of its best performances of the season in the early October 3-1 defeat of Princeton. The four set victory gave Cornell its first back-to-back victories over Princeton - since winning four consecutive matches from 2004 to 2005. The contest featured one of the best team hitting performances of the season (.241), thanks in large part to freshman middle blocker Macey Wilson, who connected on a team-best .481 with 16 kills and just three errors on 27 attempts. Her middle blocker counterpart Rachel D'Epagnier was also impressive, hitting .261 with 10 kills and four errors on 23 attempts. Altogether, the Big Red had four players register double-digit kills, with Breanna Wong and Sarah Kramer finishing with 14 and 11 kills, respectively. The offense was run through freshman Alyssa Phelps, who handed out 50 assists, registered 11 digs and posted five kills on 12 attempts with no errors for a .417 hitting percentage. She also tallied a team-high five block assists, along with Wilson. Cornell finished with nine total blocks in front of libero Natasha Rowland, who was outstanding with 29 digs. Princeton, in its first Ivy League loss of the season, hit just .142 as a team and had just two players, Kendelll Peterkin (12) and Cara Mattaliano (10), reach double-digit kills. Peterkin also had a team-high 13 digs. Setter Lauren Miller finished with 35 assists and libero Sarah Daschbach tallied 10 digs. The Tigers strength was in their blocking, posting 17 total blocks as a team, with Nicole Kincade finishing with 10 (one solo, nine assists), while Tiana Woolridge posted seven (one solo, six assists). Over half of Princeton's blocks (9.0) came during the second set, when the visitors held Cornell to .000 hitting percentage and eked out a 25-22 win, the only of the day.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose is in her second season at Cornell (16-27, .372) ... Batie-Smoose became the 10th coach in Cornell volleyball history in April 2012 ... She has a 103-89 (.536) 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 21st in the nation in digs per set (5.16) … 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 five of the top 20 performances in Cornell history, ranking 14th with her 34 digs vs. Rutgers as well as against Columbia (Oct. 26), 16th with her 33 digs vs. LIU Brooklyn and 18th with her 32 digs against Princeton (Oct. 22).

MOVING ON UP: With her impressive 34 dig performance against Columbia last weekend, junior libero Natasha Rowland moved into ninth place in Cornell history with 397 digs on the season. She will move up the leader board again with just six digs this weekend. 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 (247) and needs 16 more to move past Joanna Weiss (fourth – 262). She is sixth overall in total blocks (305), and is 10th in block solos (58), needing 11 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 – seventh in hitting percentage (.296)
*Breanna Wong – fifth in kills per set (3.05)
*Alyssa Phelps – first in assists per set (8.68)
*Sierra Young – sixth in service aces per set (0.35)
*Rachel D'Epagnier – first in blocks per set (1.17)
*Macey Wilson – third in blocks per set (1.01)
*Natasha Rowland - first in digs per set (5.16)
*Breanna Wong - seventh in points per set (3.20)

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 Ivy League play next weekend when it heads to New England to take on Brown (Nov. 8, 7:00 p.m.) and Yale (Nov. 9, 5:00 p.m.).