Box Score PITTSBURGH – It was a tale of two teams when the Big Red volleyball squad took on Pittsburgh in the opening round of the Panther Invitational this morning at Fitzgerald Field House. Thankfully, the Cornell team that pulled off nail-biting victories in both the second (25-22) and fourth (25-23) set managed to stick around and win the fifth (15-11) in convincing fashion to earn a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Panthers.  The home team earned dominant victories in both the first (25-15) and third (25-14) set.

Cornell (3-4) was led by the middle blocker tandem of Rachel D'Epagnier (7-1-19) and Macey Wilson (6-1-13), who combined for 13 kills and just two errors on 32 attempts (.344). Additionally, Breanna Wong had a team-high nine kills, while Kelly Marble chipped in eight. Setter Allysa Phelps continued to show her offensive prowess at the net with six kills on 11 attempts while handing out 30 helpers and tallying five digs. Defensively, the Big Red got a match-high 16 digs from Natasha Rowland behind 11 team blocks, with D'Epagnier registering seven stops at the net, while Wilson and Sarah Hunt had three blocks each.

Pitt (7-4) was led by Kate Yeazel and Mechael Guess with 20 and 16 kills, respectively. Setter Lindsey Zitzke had 25 assists, while Jenna Jacobson finished with 18. The Panthers also had two players with double-digit digs – Delaney Clesen (15) and Jessica Wynn (11).

After dropping the first set, the Big Red capitalized on Pitt errors to get out to a 3-0 lead in the second. The home team stormed back to tie the set at 4-4, the first of five ties in the contest, but Cornell overcame a late 20-18 deficit to earn the victory. The run began with a pair of Pitt miscues, followed by a service ace by Rowland to knot the game at 20-20. The teams then traded errors to tie the game one final time at 21-21 before a Panther error was followed by a kill from Marble. Marble and Wilson then teamed up on a block to make it 24-22 and Marble ended the set with a kill to hand the Big Red the 25-22 triumph.

The third set went to the home team, but they could not carry that momentum into the fourth, as Cornell battled to stay within striking distance early on. Pitt eventually built a 10-7 lead, but an attack error gave the ball back to the Big Red and behind some dominant serving by Wilson, Cornell went on a 6-0 run to go up, 14-10. During that span, Wilson registered two service aces, while D'Epagnier had two kills. The Big Red maintained a comfortable margin down the stretch until a 5-2 Pitt run made it a 23-21 contest. The teams traded errors and a kill by Guess made it a 24-23 game, but Wong came up with a big kill to secure the 25-23 victory.

The Big Red carried that momentum into the decisive fifth set to get off to a 3-1 lead. Pitt responded with five unanswered points, but Cornell managed to claw its way back to even at 7-7. With the score tied at 9-9, Hunt put down a kill and Wilson registered another service ace to make it an 11-9 Cornell advantage. Guess would register a kill on the next play, but three Cornell kills down the stretch, one each from Hunt, Wong and Phelps, combined with a Panther attack error, gave the Big Red the 15-11 victory.