Box Score LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Big Red volleyball team dropped its opening match at the Bucknell Invitational to UConn, 3-0, this evening in Lewisburg, Pa. Cornell continued to improve as the match went on, falling, 12- 25, 19-25, 23-25. The Big Red is back in action tomorrow when it faces the host Bison at 5 p.m.
Cornell (1-4) was led by
Macey Wilson's nine kills and .471 hitting percentage (9-1-17). Setter
Alyssa Phelps registered 20 assists and libero
Natasha Rowland finished with a match-high 21 digs. With her 21 digs, Rowland ended the evening one shy of moving into ninth place in Cornell history for career digs.
UConn (4-3) was led by Erika Thomas and Immanuella Anagu with 13 and 11 kills, respectively. The Huskies also had two players register double-digit assists – Rebecca Rivera (18) and Sage Espisito (15) – while two others – Brianna Datti (12) and Devon Maugle (11) – finished with double-digit digs.
The Huskies raced out to a 6-2 lead in the first set and never looked back, eventually using a 5-0 run to push its lead to 17-8. Cornell ended the Huskies streak with back-to-back kills from
Kit McCarty and
Emily Wemhoff, but four straight UConn kills made it a double-digit Big Red deficit and the Huskies took the 25-12 decision.
UConn carried the momentum into the second set, jumping out to an 11-4 lead before the Big Red battled back into the contest. A Huskie attack error, followed by a kill from Wilson began an extended 10-5 comeback for Cornell. A service ace by Rowland made it a 16-14 contest, but UConn pushed its lead back to five points (19-14) and maintained at least a three-point lead the rest of the way to a 25-19 victory.
The third set was a back-and-forth battle before the Huskies managed to slowly build a six-point advantage (11-5). A UConn service error, followed by a Wilson kill opened a 7-1 Cornell run that culminated with a Phelps kill and knotted the set at 12-12. The teams traded points before UConn pushed its lead back to three points (17-14). The Big Red fought back and tied the set a second time at 18-18. Consecutive Huskies points returned the advantage to UConn, which held Cornell off the rest of the way to escape with the 25-23 victory.
