MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #23: Cornell vs. Dartmouth
MATCH TIME: Friday, Nov. 15, 2013; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 38-13
LAST MEETING: Dartmouth, 3-2; Oct. 12, 2013 (Hanover, N.H.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (7-15, 3-9 Ivy); Dartmouth (10-14, 3-9 Ivy)
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wvball/
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/  

MATCH #24: Cornell vs. Harvard
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 36-21
LAST MEETING: Harvard, 3-1; Oct. 11, 2013 (Cambridge, Mass.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (7-15, 3-9 Ivy); Harvard (13-8, 8-4 Ivy)*
Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wvball/
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/  

* - Records prior to contests on Nov. 15

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red volleyball team will look to rebound from back-to-back weekend sweeps when it hosts Dartmouth and Harvard this weekend at Newman Arena. Cornell will face the Big Green on Friday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Crimson on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 5 p.m. for the final match of the 2013 season. The Big Red lost to both squads on the road back in early October, falling to Harvard in four sets and Dartmouth in heart-breaking, fifth-set fashion.



SENIOR SALUTE: Saturday's game vs. Harvard will be the final game for seniors Rachel D'Epagnier, Brittany Fox, Kelly Marble and Sierra Young, as well as student-manager Sydney Campbell.

THE SERIES VS. DARTMOUTH: Cornell's series with Dartmouth began in 1981 and the Big Red has dominated from the beginning, winning the first 13 meetings before falling to the Big Green for the first time on Oct. 12, 1996. Cornell owns a 38-13 record in the all-time series, winning 21 of the last 28 outings, including a series sweep last season. The Big Green got the best of the Big Red in this season's first contest, however, defeating Cornell in five sets.

SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN: Dartmouth enters the weekend tied with Cornell for sixth place in the Ivy League. The leader of the Big Green offensive attack has been Elisa Scudder, the conference's hitting percentage leader, connecting at a .345 clip. Scudder has also been a threat from the service line, ranking third in the conference, with 0.39 service aces per set. On the defensive side, Dartmouth's third ranked dig effort is led by Holly Harper, averaging 3.22 per set. With 1.06 per set, Scudder is also the team's leader in blocks.

LAST TIME VS. THE BIG GREEN: The Big Red won the first two sets, but could not hold on as Dartmouth came back to earn the 3-2 victory on Oct. 12 in Hanover, N.H. In each of the final two sets, both of which Cornell lost by two points, the Big Green jumped out to large leads only to see the Big Red claw its way back into the set before the home team managed to squeak out the victory. The game featured some outstanding offense with both teams putting up solid hitting percentages with Cornell finishing at .227 overall, while the Big Green hit .223. Cornell had three hitters register double-digit kills – Breanna Wong (15), Kelly Marble (14) and Sarah Kramer (10). Macey Wilson led the Big Red with a .400 hitting percentage, registering nine kills and just one error on 20 attempts. As a team, Cornell finished with 9.0 total blocks, with Rachel D'Epagnier tallying three solo and one block assist. Behind the big blockers, Cornell's defense dug 67 balls, led by libero Natasha Rowland with 24. Dartmouth was led by Molly Kornfeind's 17 kills, while Paige Caridi and Elisa Scudder finished with 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Setter Stacey Benton led the team in both assists (57) and digs (22), as one of five Big Green players to post double-digit digs.

THE SERIES VS. HARVARD: Cornell and Harvard first met in 1977, a 2-0 Big Red victory. Cornell went on to win the next 10 contests before the Crimson earned its first win in the series during the 1988 campaign. The Big Red had won nine straight meetings, dating back to Oct. 9, 2004, before Harvard earned a series sweep in both the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Cornell returned to its winning ways with a sweep of the Crimson in 2011, however, Harvard got its revenge by winning both meetings last year and continued the trend, defeating Cornell 3-1 in early October in Cambridge.

SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: Harvard, tied for second place in the Ivy League, has been well-balanced this season, sitting close to the top of the conference in nearly every statistical category including hitting percentage, blocks, and service aces. The squad's offense is lead by Caroline Walters' .314 hitting percentage and Corinne Bain's 6.11 assists per set. Bain has also been lethal from the service line, averaging more than half a service ace per set, good enough for first in the conference. Caroline Holte's 1.01 blocks per set, fourth best in the Ivy League, lead the defensive effort.

LAST TIME VS. THE CRIMSON: The Big Red volleyball team gave Harvard all it could handle in the second set, and won the third, but couldn't force a fifth set, falling to the Crimson, 3-1 on Oct. 11 in Cambridge, Mass. Rachel D'Epagnier had a solid all-around game to lead the Big Red. The senior middle blocker was the only Cornell player with double-digit kills, posting 11 with just two errors on 29 attempts for a team-best .310 hitting percentage. Freshman Macey Wilson also had a solid performance, finishing with eight kills and a .278 hitting percentage (8-3-18), to go along with six blocks. The tandem accounted for nine of the Big Red's 13.0 team blocks. Libero Natasha Rowland finished with a match-high 19 digs as the Big Red's only player in double-digits. Harvard was led by Grace Weghorst and Kathleen Wallace with 14 and 10 kills, respectively. Wallace also posted a .296 hitting percentage (10-2-27), while Caroline Holte (9-3-19) and Caroline Walters (7-2-14) combined to hit .333.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose is in her second season at Cornell (16-31, .340) ... Batie-Smoose became the 10th coach in Cornell volleyball history in April 2012 ... She has a 103-93 (.526) 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 second in the Ivy League and ranked 32nd in the nation in digs per set (4.99) … 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 30 digs last weekend, junior libero Natasha Rowland moved into fifth place in Cornell history digs in single season with 464. She sits just one dig behind Megan Mushovic (465 in 2006) and is just four digs behind Kelly Kramer (468 in 2004), who sits in third place ... 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 (256) and needs seven more to move past Joanna Weiss (fourth – 262). She is sixth overall in total blocks (317), and is 10th in block solos (61), needing eight more to move into a 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:
*Breanna Wong – fourth in kills per set (3.23)
*Alyssa Phelps – second in assists per set (9.05)
*Sierra Young – tenth in service aces per set (0.30)
*Rachel D'Epagnier – first in blocks per set (1.10)
*Macey Wilson – third in blocks per set (1.04)
*Natasha Rowland - second in digs per set (4.99)
*Breanna Wong - fifth in points per set (3.45)
*Macey Wilson – ninth in hitting percentage (.285)

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.