MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #14: Cornell at Penn
MATCH TIME: Friday, Oct. 9, 2015; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: The Palestra (Philadelphia, Pa.)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 41-25
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-0, on Oct. 31, 2014
2015 RECORDS: Cornell (4-9, 0-3 Ivy); Penn (8-7, 2-1 Ivy)
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LIVE VIDEO 
 
MATCH #15: Cornell at Princeton
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 10, 2015; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Jadwin Gym (Princeton, N.J.)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads, 49-19
LAST MEETING: Princeton won, 3-0, on Nov. 1, 2014
* 2015 RECORDS: Cornell (4-9, 0-3 Ivy); Princeton (5-7, 0-3 Ivy)
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
 
* records prior to Friday's contests
 
THE WEEKEND: The Big Red volleyball team will wrap up a four game road trip when it travels to Penn and Princeton on Friday, Oct. 9 and Saturday, Oct. 10, respectively. The game with the Quakers is slated for 7 p.m., while Cornell takes on the Tigers the following day at 5 p.m.
 
THE SERIES VS. PENN: The Big Red and Penn first met in 1974, a 2-0 Big Red victory. The Quakers went on to dominate the series for the rest of the 1970s and '80s, accounting for its 41-25 all-time lead, but since 2000 the series has been much more equal with Penn owning a slim 14-11 advantage. Cornell snapped a three-game losing streak to the Quakers with a 3-0 victory last season.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE QUAKERS: The Big Red earned its second consecutive win with a decisive 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-18) decision against Penn on Oct. 31, 2014 in Newman Arena.  The victory gave Cornell its first sweep of the Quakers since the 2006 season. The Big Red had its best hitting performance of the season, connecting on .274 of its attempts as a team. Freshman Emily Wemhoff led the team with 14 kills (14-3-38) and connected on .282 percent, while sophomore Macey Wilson hit a blistering .467 with eight kills and just one error on 15 attempts. Wilson was also big at the net with four block assists. Freshmen Maddy Sroufe was the only other Big Red player to reach double-figure kills (11) and was extremely efficient, hitting .348 (11-3-23). Freshman Kit McCarty was also impressive with seven kills and just one error on 20 attempts (.300). Defensively, libero Natasha Rowland finished with 11 digs, while defensive specialist Chelsea Sincox chipped in nine. Setter Alyssa Phelps handed out 30 assists and added 11 digs. Phelps, Sincox, Wehmoff, Rowland and Jasmine Robinson all registered two service aces apiece. Penn was led by Kendall Turner's eight kills as no Quaker reached double-digits. The visitors hit just .111 as a team, with Turner (8-2-16) and Kendall Convington (6-1-14) proving to be the only Quakers' to hit above .125 for the game.  Libero Emmy Friedler was the only Penn player to reach double-digit digs (13), while Ronnie Bither and Alex Caldwell handed out 14 and 10 assists, respectively.
 
SCOUTING PENN: The Quakers enter the weekend with an 8-7 record overall and a mark of 2-1 in the Ivy League, where they are tied with Brown, Harvard and Dartmouth for second place in the conference standings. Penn had a four-game winning streak snapped last weekend when it fell to Harvard, 3-0. Setter Ronnie Bither leads the conference with 9.27 assists per set. Hitters Alexis Genske (2.99) and Alex Caldwell (2.19) are both averaging more than two kills per game. Libero Michelle Pereira ranks sixth in the conference with 3.51 digs per set.  
 
THE SERIES VS. PRINCETON: As is true for the series against Penn, the Cornell series with Princeton began in the 1974 season, a 2-0 Big Red victory. The Tigers have dominated the series since, owning a 49-19 record against Cornell. The teams split the series in 2013, but the Tigers won both meetings a year ago.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE TIGERS: The Big Red was swept by Princeton, 3-0, on Nov. 1, 2014 in Newman Arena. The Tigers narrowly took the first two sets (25-21, 25-22) before dominating the third set (25-6) to remain in third place in the conference standings with an Ivy record of 7-3, just one loss back of Harvard and Yale. Cornell was led by Emily Wemhoff with a team-high nine kills, while Macey Wilson posted a team-best .375 hitting percentage with seven kills and just one error on 16 attempts. The duo also added three block assists apiece. Defensively, libero Natasha Rowland had a match-high 18, while Wemhoff chipped in 12 as the only other Big Red player to reach double-figures. Setter Alyssa Phelps handed out 22 assists. Princeton hit an impressive .284 as a team, as every single Tiger finished with a positive hitting percentage. Kelly Matthews had 11 kills and just one error on 25 attempts (.400), while Cara Mattaliano had 10 kills and hit .250 on the evening. Mataliano added a team-high 14 digs, while Kendall Peterkin and Sarah Daschbach added 11 and 10 digs, respectively. Setter Lauren Miller finished with 34 assists.
 
SCOUTING PRINCETON: The Tigers enter the weekend winless in the Ivy League (0-3) with a 5-7 record overall. However, all three of Princeton's Ivy losses have come to teams that are tied for second in the league with records of 2-1 (Penn, Harvard, Dartmouth). Kendall Peterkin leads Princeton with 3.27 kills per set, while Cara Mattaliano (2.88) and Brittany Ptak (2.19) both average more than two kills per set. Setters Lauren Miller and Claire Nussbaum are averaging 6.42 and 4.60 assists per set, respectively, and libero Sarah Daschbach is averaging 4.45 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 (4-9, .307) ... 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, Macey Wilson's .352 hitting percentage ranks 95th in the nation, while Alex Basler's 0.35 service aces per set ranks 132nd. As a team, Cornell's 1.46 aces per set ranks 77th 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 – second in hitting percentage (.343)
* Alyssa Phelps – sixth in assists per set (6.62)
* Chelsea Sincox – fifth in digs per set (4.04)
* Alex Basler – first in service aces per set (0.35)
* Natalie Danenhauer – third in service aces per set (0.33)
* Macey Wilson – third in blocks per set (1.02)
  
SETTING UP: Junior Alyssa Phelps currently sits in seventh place in Cornell history for career assists (2,024), needing 136 more to move past Adrienne Greve (1992-95) and into sixth place.
 
BIG BLOCKER: Junior Macey Wilson ranks 17th in Cornell history for career solo blocks (34), needing just two more to move past Joanna Weiss in 16th place. She is also 11th in block assists (194), and 13th in total blocks (228), needing seven and six, respectively, to move up a notch.
 
BOOMING BASLER: Since the start of Ivy League play, freshman Alex Basler has posted 10 kills in 2-of-3 matches and has recorded just two hitting errors, going a collective 24-2-51 for an impressive .431 hitting percentage.
 
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 returns home for its first full weekend of Ivy League play, welcoming Dartmouth on Friday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m., before playing host to Harvard on Saturday, Oct. 17 at 5 p.m.