NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Big Red volleyball team gave five-time Ivy League defending champions Yale all it could handle this evening, taking the Bulldogs five sets before falling, 3-2, 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 (4-9, 0-3 Ivy) 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.
 
The visitors got off to a hot start, jumping out to a 10-4 lead in the first set on the strength of a pair of kills from Sroufe, a pair of service aces from Sincox, kills from Wilson and Basler, and a combined block by Wilson and Phelps. Cornell steadily built its lead before seven unanswered points, including three kills by Carla Sganderlla, put the visitors up 23-8. Yale took four of the next five points to get to double digits but a Bulldog service error handed Cornell the 25-11 victory.
 
Yale started the second set the way it ended the first, getting out to a 6-2 lead before a service error and a kill from Basler brought the Big Red back within two points. Cornell then used a 3-1 run to knot the game at 7-7 before consecutive kills from Sroufe and Basler gave the visitors its first lead of the set (9-8). The teams battled back and forth before the Big Red registered three unanswered points to go up, 20-16. Yale got back within three points once more to make it a 22-19 contest, but two Bulldog attack errors and a service ace by Danenhauer sealed the 25-19 win.
 
In the third set, Yale used a 4-0 run early on to build a lead it would not relinquish en route to the 25-15 victory.
 
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 10-3 lead in the fourth set and although Cornell battled back with a 6-2 run late in the set with kills from Sroufe, Wilson, Phelps and Basler, the home team held on for the 25-18 win.
 
Yale used another quick start in the final set to build a big early lead, going up 4-1, before kills from Wilson, Sroufe and Phelps pulled the Big Red within one-point (5-4). Three unanswered kills by the Bulldogs doubled up Cornell (8-4), but the Big Red used one last push to cut the lead to 11-10. That was as good as it would get, however, as Yale went 4-1 the rest of the way for the 15-11 victory.
 
The Big Red will wrap up a four-game road trip next weekend at Penn (Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m.) and Princeton (Saturday, Oct. 10, 5 p.m.).