MATCH INFO
MATCH #19: Cornell vs. Yale
MATCH TIME: Friday, Oct. 30, 2015; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale leads, 39-25
LAST MEETING: Yale won, 3-2, on Oct. 3, 2015
2015 RECORDS: Cornell (5-13, 1-7 Ivy); Yale (10-7, 5-3 Ivy)
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
 
MATCH #20: Cornell vs. Brown
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Marsha Dodson Field (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 38-25
LAST MEETING: Brown won, 3-0, on Oct. 2, 2015
2015 RECORDS: Cornell (5-13, 1-7 Ivy); Brown (10-10, 4-4 Ivy)
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
 
THE MATCHUP: Coming off its first Ivy League win of the season, the Big Red volleyball team welcomes Yale and Brown to Newman Arena this weekend. Cornell (5-13, 1-7 Ivy) will take on the Bulldogs on Friday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Bears on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 5 p.m. Brown improved to 10-10 on the year and 4-4 in the conference after defeating Yale (10-7, 5-3 Ivy) last weekend, 3-1.
 
THE SERIES VS. YALE: Cornell and Yale first met in 1976, a 2-0 Bulldog victory. Yale went on to win the next four contests before the Big Red earned its first win in the series during the 1981 campaign. The Bulldogs have won the past 15 meetings, taking the lead in the all-time series, 39-25.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE BULLDOGS: The Big Red gave five-time Ivy League defending champions Yale all it could handle, taking the Bulldogs five sets before falling, 3-2, on Oct. 3 in Payne Whitney Gym.  Cornell stormed out to a 2-0 lead, winning 25-11 and 25-19, before dropping the next two, 15-25 and 18-25. The final set went Yale's way, 15-11, as the Bulldogs improved to 8-4 overall and 3-0 in the conference. Cornell had a well-balanced attack with three players recording double-digit kills. Junior middle blocker Macey Wilson and sophomore outside hitter Maddy Sroufe had 11 kills apiece, with Wilson hitting .308 (11-3-26). Freshman middle blocker Alex Basler had an incredible evening, registering 10 kills with no errors on just 18 attempts to finish at .556 percent on the evening. She also added a pair of block assists and two service aces.  Setter Alyssa Phelps had 39 assists and paired with Wilson for four block assists. The Big Red finished with seven total team blocks in front of a great defensive effort that registered 68 total digs. Sophomore libero Chelsea Sincox led the way with 17 digs, while Natalie Danenhauer (14), Kiley McPeek (12) and Shae Bauchens (11) all reached double figures. Yale was led by Kelley Wirth's 16 kills and 10 digs, while Kelly Johnson and Brittani Steinberg finished with nine kills apiece. The Bulldogs were efficient on the attack, hitting .228 as a team (54-20-149) to Cornell's .180 performance (48-23-139).  Johnson and Kelsey Crawford handed out 29 and 10 assists, respectively, while Katie Swanson had a match-high19 digs.
 
SCOUTING YALE: The Bulldogs dropped a match last weekend to Brown for the first time since 2005 to slip to 10-7 overall and 5-3 in the Ivy League. Kelly Johnson leads Yale and ranks fifth in the Ivy League with 3.12 kills per set, while Kelley Wirth is 10th overall (2.74). Setter Kelsey Crawford is handing out 8.57 assists per set, good for third in the conference, while libero Kate Swanson is seventh overall with 3.09 digs per set.
 
THE SERIES VS. BROWN: Cornell's series with Brown began in the 1976 season and the Big Red has dominated from the beginning, winning the first seven meetings before falling to the Bears for the first time in 1984. Cornell owns a 38-25 record in the all-time series, winning 18 of the last 30 meetings. The Bears have won five straight to earn nine victories in the last 15 attempts against Cornell.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE BEARS: The Big Red dropped a 3-0 decision to Brown on Oct. 2, losing in straight sets, 25-11, 25-23, 25-15. Kit McCarty finished with a team-high eight kills for the Big Red, connecting on .208 percent (8-3-24), while Macey Wilson had six kills and no errors on 12 attempts to finish at .500 for the night. Setter Alyssa Phelps handed out 25 assists and libero Chelsea Sincox had a match-high 14 digs. Brown was led by Shirin Tooloee's 12 kills and .414 hitting percentage (13-1-29), while Payton Smith and Courtney Palm went a combined 9-of-15 with no errors for a .600 hitting percentage. Rachele Killian and Sarah Lucenti registered 16 and 12 assists, respectively, while both Shannon Frost and Melissa Cairo finished with 13 digs apiece.
 
SCOUTING BROWN: After losing four-straight, the Bears have rebounded with a two-match winning streak, including the program's first win over Yale since 2005, to even its record at 10-10 overall and 4-4 in the Ivy League. Brown has a pair of big hitters with Payton Smith ranking fourth in the Ivy League in hitting percentage (.313) and Sabrina Stillwell ranking seventh overall (.304). Stillwall also ranks second in the conference in kills per game (3.52). Libero Melisa Cairo ranks third in the Ivy League with 4.58 digs per set, while Shannon Frost is ninth overall with 2.40 digs per set.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Trudy Vande Berg is in her first season as The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach Of Volleyball at Cornell (5-13, .278) ... Vande Berg became the 11th head coach in Cornell volleyball history in March 2015 after spending three seasons as the Big Red's top assistant coach ... Prior to her time at Cornell, Vande Berg spent time as an assistant coach at North Florida, Duke, and Iowa State and as a volunteer assistant at Wisconsin. She also served as head coach of the Team Iowa Ice professional club in the Premier Volleyball League, where she guided the team to the championship in her second year at the helm. Ice is the only team to have medaled in each of the three years of the league's existence.
 
NCAA RANKINGS: Entering the week, Natalie Danenhauer ranks ninth in the nation in aces per game (0.50). As a team, Cornell's 1.52 aces per set ranks 51st in the nation and second in the Ivy League.
 
IN THE RANKINGS: Several Cornell players are raked in the top 10 of various Ivy League statistical categories, including:
* Macey Wilson – 10th in hitting percentage (.280)
* Alyssa Phelps – seventh in assists per set (6.92)
* Natalie Danenhauer – first in service aces per set (0.50)
* Alex Basler – seventh in service aces per set (0.28)
* Chelsea Sincox – sixth in digs per set (3.84)
  
DID YOU KNOW:
* Brittany Kalepa was a member of the Kamehameha Schools Children's Chorus, which sang in the movie Lilo and Stitch.
* This past summer, Houston native Chelsea Sincox served as a tour guide at Space Center Houston, gateway to NASA Johnson Space Center and Houston's only Smithsonian Affiliate museum.
* Kiley McPeek has 10 relatives that are Cornell alumni. Her father, Jeff '82, played sprint football for the Big Red, while her great uncle Richard Boerner was a member of the Cornell heavyweight varsity eight that won the IRA national championship in 1958.
* Kit McCarty is one of eight children – she has four brothers and three sisters.
* Zoe Lequeux is a French citizen.
* Carla Sganderlla can speak Portuguese.
* Kara Rogers lived in Germany for a year.
 
CLOSE CALLS:  Of the 24 sets the Big Red has lost this season, more than one-third (nine) have been by just two points.
 
SETTING UP: Junior Alyssa Phelps currently sits in fifth place overall in Cornell history for career assists (2,184). She needs 282 to surpass Amy Gordan (2004-07) in fourth place with 2,465 assists.
 
BIG BLOCKER: Junior Macey Wilson ranks 16th in Cornell history for career solo blocks (36), needing just three more to move past Heather Young in 15th place. She is also ninth in block assists (207), and 12th in total blocks (243), needing six and 16, respectively, to move up a notch.
 
BOOMING BASLER: Since the start of Ivy League play, freshman Alex Basler recorded just nine hitting errors, going a collective 56-9-146 for an impressive .322 hitting percentage – the highest on the team during that stretch.
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red freshmen class of Alex Basler, Shae Bauchens,Natalie Danenhauer, Lauren Donnelly, Gabby Goodall, Zoe Lequeux, Kara Rogers, and Carla Sganderlla was ranked among the top 90 in the nation, earning a high honorable mention distinction from PrepVolleyball.com.
 
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:  Junior Macey Wilson was named to the Jack Kaiser Volleyball Classic All-Tournament team, while junior Alyssa Phelps and freshman Carla Sganderlla were both named to the Black Knights Invitational All-Tournament Team. Phelps was also named to the Cornell Invitational All-Tournament team.
 
 SEASON OPENERS: With its win over William & Mary on Sept. 5, Cornell improved to 28-14-1 all-time in season openers. Since 1995, the Big Red is an impressive 15-5 in the first match of the season.
 
OPENING UP 2-0: Cornell picked up wins over William & Mary and Iona on its first day of the season to get off to a 2-0 start for the first time since defeating Niagara and Bucknell in the opening round of the 2007 Cornell Invitational.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red travels to Harvard and Dartmouth on Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7, respectively. The Game with the Crimson will begin at 7 p.m., while the game with the Big Green is slated to begin at 5 p.m.