MATCH INFO
MATCH #21: Cornell vs. Harvard
MATCH TIME: Friday, Nov. 6, 2015; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Malkin Athletic Center (Cambridge, Mass.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 36-25
LAST MEETING: Harvard won, 3-2, on Oct. 17, 2015
2015 RECORDS: Cornell (6-14, 2-8 Ivy); Harvard (11-9, 7-3 Ivy)
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
 
MATCH #22: Cornell vs. Dartmouth
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Leede Arena (Hanover, N.H.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 40-15
LAST MEETING: Dartmouth won, 3-1, on Oct. 16, 2015
* 2015 RECORDS: Cornell (6-14, 2-8 Ivy); Dartmouth (9-10, 6-4 Ivy)
LIVE STATS  
LIVE VIDEO
 
* records prior to Friday night's contents
 
THE MATCHUP: After splitting a pair of Ivy League games last weekend, the Big Red volleyball team travels to conference leader Harvard (11-9, 7-3 Ivy) and Dartmouth  (9-10, 6-4 Ivy) this weekend. Cornell (6-14, 2-8 Ivy) will take on the Crimson on Friday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m., before facing the Big Green on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 5 p.m.
 
THE SERIES VS. HARVARD: Cornell and Harvard first met in 1977, a 2-0 Big Red victory. Cornell went on to win the next 10 contests before the Crimson earned its first win in the series during the 1988 campaign. The Big Red had won nine straight meetings, dating back to Oct. 9, 2004, before Harvard earned a series sweep in both the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Cornell returned to its winning ways with a sweep of the Crimson in 2011, however, Harvard has gotten its revenge by winning the last seven outings. Still, the Big Red holds the commanding 36-25 lead in the all-time series.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE CRIMSON: The Big Red got out to a 2-0 lead with impressive wins of 25-22 and 25-14, but Harvard stormed back to win the final three sets, 25-23, 26-24 and 15-13, to escape Newman Arena with the 3-2 decision on Oct. 17. Cornell had three players reach double-digit kills, led by Maddy Sroufe with 17. Kit McCarty was outstanding with 13 kills and just one error on 30 attempts for a team-high .400 hitting percentage, while Carla Sganderlla chipped in 14 kills. Setters Alyssa Phelps and Lauren Donnelly registered 27 and 19 assists, respectively. Phelps also added 12 digs, seven kills and three block assists. Libero Natalie Danenhauer finished with a team-high 19 digs and three service aces. Also finishing with double-digit digs was Phelps, Kiley McPeek (17), Chelsea Sincox (14), and Donnelly (13). The Big Red posted 92 team digs behind 12 team blocks, with Alex Basler finishing with six block assists, while Sganderlla and Wilson finished with four block assists apiece. Wilson also added one block solo. Harvard was led by Kathleen Wallace's 18 kills. Paige Kebe (12) and Corinne Baine (10) also reached double figures. Bain handed out 33 assists and finished with 20 digs, while Hannah Schmidt finished with 23 assists and 17 digs. Libero Sindhu Vegesena was outstanding with a match-high 31 digs, as the Crimson finished with 100 team digs.
  
THE SERIES VS. DARTMOUTH: Cornell's series with Dartmouth began in 1981 and the Big Red has dominated from the beginning, winning the first 13 meetings before falling to the Big Green for the first time on Oct. 12, 1996. Cornell owns a 40-15 record in the all-time series, winning 21 of the last 30 outings.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE BIG GREEN: The Big Red started strong, taking a set off Ivy League leading Dartmouth, but the Big Green rallied to earn the 3-1 victory on Dig Pink Night at Newman Arena on Oct. 16. The match was closely contested throughout with Cornell winning the first set (25-22), falling, 21-25, 16-25, 20-25. Cornell was led by Carla Sganderlla with 11 kills, while Macey Wilson hit a team-best .562 on the evening with 10 kills and just one assist on 16 errors as the only other Big Red to reach double-digits. Setter Alyssa Phelps registered 32 assists and libero Natalie Danenhauer had a team-high 14 digs. Freshman Alex Basler also had a solid evening five kills and just one error on 16 attempts to go along with a match-high five block assists. Dartmouth also had just two hitters reach double-figures, as Emily Astarita and Kaira Lugan finished with 18 and 11 kills, respectively. The Big Green hit an impressive .270 as a team, with Astarita (.432) and Lugan (.286) joining Morgan Dressel, who finished with an outstanding .615 hitting percentage with eight kills and no errors on just 13 attempts. Dartmouth also had two players reach double-digit digs with libero Zoe Leonard registering a match-high 16 digs, while Paige Cardi chipped in 11.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Trudy Vande Berg is in her first season as The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach Of Volleyball at Cornell (6-14, .300) ... 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.
 
SECOND HALF SURGE: After going 0-7 in the first half of Ivy League play, the Big Red has rebounded with a record of 2-1 so far in the second half.

NCAA RANKINGS: Entering the week, Natalie Danenhauer ranks 21st in the nation in aces per game (0.44). As a team, Cornell's 1.47 aces per set ranks 67th in the nation and first in the Ivy League.
 
IN THE RANKINGS: Several Cornell players are raked in the top 10 of various Ivy League statistical categories, including:
* Alyssa Phelps – fifth in assists per set (7.17)
* Natalie Danenhauer – first in service aces per set (0.44)
* Alex Basler – ninth in service aces per set (0.26)
* Chelsea Sincox – seventh in digs per set (3.92)

IVY ONLY: The player performances have been even better against Ivy League only competition …
* Alex Basler – sixth in hitting percentage (.308)
* Carla Sganderlla – 10th in kills per game (2.86)
* Alyssa Phelps – third in assists per set (7.91)
* Natalie Danenhauer – first in service aces per set (0.53)
* Chelsea Sincox – sixth in digs per set (3.95)
* Natalie Danenhauer – 10th in digs per set (3.61)
   
CLOSE CALLS:  Of the 29 sets the Big Red has lost this season, more than one-third (11) have been by just two points.
 
SECOND HALF SGANDERLLA: Since the start of the second half of Ivy League play, freshman Carla Sganderlla has been outstanding, posting three consecutive double-doubles. She set career highs vs. Columbia with 15 kills and 16 digs, and then improved on both of those marks in each of the next two outings with 20 kills and 18 digs vs. Yale, before posting 22 kills and 18 digs vs. Brown.
 
BOOMING BASLER: Since the start of Ivy League play, freshman Alex Basler recorded just nine hitting errors, going a collective 75-14-198 for an impressive .308 hitting percentage – the highest on the team during that stretch.
 
SETTING UP: Junior Alyssa Phelps currently sits in fifth place overall in Cornell history for career assists (2,274). She needs 192 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 eighth in block assists (219) and 12th in total blocks (255), needing 20 and three, respectively, to move up a notch.

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.

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 will play its final home games of the season, and honor senior Brittany Kalepa, when it plays host to Princeton and Penn on Friday, Nov. 13 and Saturday, Nov. 14, respectively. The Game with the Tigers will begin at 7 p.m., while the game with the Quakers is slated to begin at 5 p.m.