ITHACA, N.Y. – For the second night in a row, the Big Red volleyball team took its opponent to five sets. But unlike last night's heartbreaking loss to Yale, Cornell earned the hard-fought 3-2 win tonight over Brown in Newman Arena. The Bears won the first set (25-23) but Cornell battled back to tie the match with a 25-22 decision in the second. Brown regained the lead with a 25-11 victory in the third, but Cornell won the fourth (25-22) and then finished strong with a 15-12 victory in the fifth.
 
Carla Sganderlla had another career-night for the Big Red with a 22-kill, 18-dig effort. Maddy Sroufe (13) and Alex Basler (12) also finished in double-digits, while Kara Rogers  (9-2-16) and Macey Wilson (7-1-21) combined to hit .351. Wilson also had a team-high six block assists.
 
Defensively, Cornell had four players reach double-digit digs, led by Sganderlla and libero Natalie Danenhauer with 18 apiece. Defensive specialists Chelsea Sincox and Kiley McPeek finished with 14 and 13 digs, respectively.  
 
Setter Alyssa Phelps registered 40 assists, while Lauren Donnelly posted 19.
 
Brown (10-12, 4-6 Ivy) was led by Sabrina Stillwell's 20 kills and impressive .319 hitting percentage. Shannon Frost also finished with 10 kills and a game-high 21 digs.
 
The decisive final set started with a bang on consecutive kills from Sroufe and Sganderlla, but a Brown kill, coupled with a Cornell hitting error knotted the game at 2-2. The teams traded points to 6-6 before a Bears' attack error and an ace from Basler put Cornell up, 8-6. Back-to-back kills from Casey Tierney and Frost tied the game once more at 8-8. The set would be tied four more times down the stretch, with the last coming at 12-12, before a Brown hitting error was followed by consecutive kills from Sganderlla to account for the 15-12 final.
 
The exciting fifth set came on the heels of an impressive fourth by the Big Red, as Cornell scored the first three points, starting with an ace by Donnelly and a pair of consecutive block assists by the pair of Wilson and Kit McCarty. The Bears responded with a 5-2 run, punctuated by an ace from Elisa Merten to make it a 5-5 contest. Three consecutive kills, one from Sganderlla and two from Basler on consecutive Brown overpasses, put the Big Red back up, 8-5. Shirin Tooloee temporarily ended the Cornell streak, but the home team used another 5-2 run, with three kills (McCarty, Basler, Sganderlla) and two service aces (Phelps and Sganderlla) pushing its lead to 13-8. The visitors pulled within two points at 14-12 but the Big Red got a kill from Sganderlla and remained in control the rest of the way, winning 25-22.
 
The teams traded points to start the match with seven ties on the way to an 11-11 contest in the first set. A kill from Stillwell, followed by a tandem block from Stillwell and Emma Thygesen gave Brown a lead it would not relinquish. Cornell pulled within one point four times down the stretch, including the final time at 24-23, but a kill from Thygesen handed the visitors the 25-23 victory.
 
Cornell jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second set, thanks to the strong serving of Sincox, but the Bears eventually used a prolonged 9-3 run to take its first lead of the set at 13-12. A kill from Basler knotted the set at 13-13 and the teams traded points to 17-17. Cornell used an attack error form Tierney, and consecutive kills form Sganderlla and Rogers to go up, 20-17. Frost ended the Cornell run with a kill, but Rogers answered on the next play to make it 21-18. Brown got a big solo block from Courtney Palm to make it a two-point game (21-19), but consecutive kills from Basler and Phelps gave the Big Red a 23-19 lead.  The Bears had one final push and used back-to-back kills form Stillwell to make it a one-point game at 23-22, but a service error from Palm and a kill from Wilson gave Cornell the 25-22 victory.
 
Like Cornell did in the second set, Brown got out to a quick 5-0 lead in the third set and eventually extended its advantage to 9-2 after a Big Red blocking error. The Bears pushed its lead to double-digits (18-8) on a service ace from Frost, who served six-straight points before a kill from Basler ended the streak. It was too little, too late, however, as the visitors rolled to the 25-11 victory.
 
Cornell (6-14, 2-6 Ivy) is back in action next weekend as it 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.