MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #11: Cornell vs. Columbia
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015; 2:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 49-11
LAST MEETING: Cornell wins, 3-2, on Oct. 25, 2014
2015 RECORDS: Cornell (4-6, 0-0 Ivy); Cornell (2-7, 0-0 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wvball 
LIVE VIDEO: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/cornell/schedule 
 
THE IVY LEAGUE OPENER: The Big Red volleyball team will welcome Columbia to Newman Arena for both teams' first Ivy League competition of the season on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 2:00 p.m. Both squads come into the game with under .500 records, with Cornell sitting a 4-6, while the Lions are 2-7.
 
THE SERIES VS. COLUMBIA: The Big Red and the Lions have played 60 times dating back to 1977, with Cornell holding a dominating 49-11 record in the all-time series. The Big Red halted a four-match losing streak against the Lions during the 2013 season with a series sweep and split the series a year ago.

LAST TIME VS. THE LIONS: The Big Red earned its first Ivy League win of the 2014 season in dramatic fashion on Oct. 25, coming back to defeat Columbia, 3-2, in Newman Arena. After winning the first set, 25-18, Cornell dropped the next two (25-23, 25-21), but came back to win sets four (25-21) and five (20-18) in front of a boisterous crowd on hand for the team's annual Dig Pink game. Cornell was led by Maddy Sroufe, who registered a career-high 20 kills to go along with a solid .210 hitting percentage, 11 digs and three block assists. Emily Wemhoff had a 15-kill, 12-dig double-double and Macey Wilson finished with 10 kills and just two errors on 28 attempts for a team-high .286 hitting percentage. Wilson also posted five block assists. Setter Alyssa Phelps had 50 assists and 12 digs, while libero Natasha Rowland finished with a match-high 34 digs, good for 14th place in Cornell history for digs in a set.  Jasmine Robinson was also outstanding, with six kills and seven block assists, but more importantly, she sparked a crucial 6-1 run in the final set to help the Big Red comeback from a 9-4 deficit to earn the victory.

SCOUTING COLUMBIA: The Lions closed its non-conference schedule with four straight losses to fall to 2-7 on the season heading into Ivy League play. Columbia has three players that average at least 2.00 kills per set – Zoe Jacobs (2.96), Katarina Jovicic (2.23), and Bailey Springer (2.00) – with Jovicic hitting an impressive .372 (58-16-113) on the season. Setter Alex Reale is handing out 8.87 assists per set, while libero Cassie Wes is averaging 4.19 digs per set.  
  
FREE KIDS CLINIC: Members of the Big Red volleyball team and its staff will hold a free youth clinic immediately following its Ivy League opener vs. Columbia. The clinic is open to boys and girls, grades K-8. To register, please the name and age of the participant to camps@cornell.edu. 

THE HEAD COACH: Trudy Vande Berg is in her first season as The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach Of Volleyball at Cornell (4-6, .400) ... 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 .361 hitting percentage ranks 100th in the nation. As a team, Cornell's 1.61 aces per set ranks 52nd in the nation.
 
IN THE RANKINGS: Several Cornell players are raked in the top 10 of various Ivy League statistical categories, including:
* Macey Wilson – third in hitting percentage (.396)
* Emily Wemhoff – eighth in kills per set (2.61)
* Alyssa Phelps – fifth in assists per set (7.32)
* Chelsea Sincox – fifth in digs per set (3.82)
* Natalie Dandnhauer – seventh in service aces per set (0.32)
* Alyssa Phelps – ninth in service aces per set (0.29)
* Alex Basler – ninth in service aces per set (0.29)

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. 
 
SETTING UP: Junior Alyssa Phelps currently sits in eighth place in Cornell history for career assists (1,934), needing 48 more to move past Jordan Reeder (2008-11) and into seventh place.
 
BIG BLOCKER: Junior Macey Wilson ranks 17th in Cornell history for career solo blocks (31), needing just five more to move past Joanna Weiss in 16th place. She is also 17th in block assists (182), and 14th in total blocks (213), needing three and two, respectively, to move up a notch.
 
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.

 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 be on the road for its next four contests travelling to Brown (Oct. 2), Yale (Oct. 3), Penn (Oct. 9) and Princeton (Oct. 10). Cornell has dominated the Bears, owning a 38-24 record overall and winning 18 of the last 28 meetings after being swept last season, while the Bulldogs have won the past 14 meetings to take a 41-25 lead in the all-time series.