MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #12: Cornell at Brown
MATCH TIME: Friday, Oct. 2, 2015; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Pizzitola Center (Providence, R.I.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 38-24
LAST MEETING: Brown won, 3-1, on Nov. 7, 2014
2015 RECORDS: Cornell (4-7, 0-1 Ivy); Brown (6-6, 0-1 Ivy)
LIVE STATS  
LIVE VIDEO 
 
MATCH #13: Cornell at Yale
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2015; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Payne Whitney Gym (New Haven, Conn.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale leads, 38-25
LAST MEETING: Yale won, 3-0, on Nov. 8, 2014
* 2015 RECORDS: Cornell (4-7, 0-1 Ivy); Yale (6-4, 1-0 Ivy)
LIVE STATS  
LIVE VIDEO

* records prior to Friday's contests

THE WEEKEND: The Big Red volleyball team will open its first full Ivy League weekend when it travels to Brown and Yale on Friday, Oct. 2 and Saturday, Oct. 3, respectively. The game with the Bears is slated for 7 p.m., while Cornell takes on the Bulldogs the following day at 5 p.m. The Big Red dropped a hard-fought 3-1 decision to Columbia last weekend in its conference opener, while Yale defeated Brown, 3-1, in the Ivy League opener for each team. 

THE SERIES VS. BROWN: Cornell's series with Brown began in the 1976 season and the Big Red has dominated from the beginning, winning the first seven meetings before falling to the Bears for the first time in 1984. Cornell owns a 38-24 record in the all-time series, winning 18 of the last 29 meetings. The Bears have won four straight to earn eight victories in the last 14 attempts against Cornell.

LAST TIME VS. THE BEARS: The Big Red fell to Brown, 3-1 on Nov. 7, 2014 in Newman Arena. The Bears won the first to sets (25-20, 25-21) before Cornell extended the match with a 25-20 victory in the third set. The home team could not capitalize on the momentum and fell in the fourth set, 25-14. 
Cornell (5-16, 2-9) had three players hit in double-figures, led by Kit McCarty and Maddy Sroufe with 13 kills apiece, while Emily Wemhoff chipped in 11. McCarty also posted a team-high .310 hitting percentage. Setter Alyssa Phelps handed out 39 assists and tallied nine digs, while libero Natasha Rowland and defensive specialist Chelsea Sincox finished with 16 and 14 digs, respectively. Brown (10-13, 5-6) was led by Shirin Tooloee's 17 kills. She was also one of four Bears to hit better than .300, posting an impressive .366 (17-2-41). Maddie Lord, Payton Smith and Brittany Link all chipped in eight kills apiece. Libero Kathryn Connor had 14 digs, as did setter Sarh Lucenti, who also posted 21 assists while splitting time with Rachele Killian, who finished with 13 helpers.

SCOUTING BROWN: The Bears had a three-match winning streak snapped by Yale in its Ivy League opener to slip to 6-6 overall and 0-1 in conference. Brown has a pair of big hitters with Payton Smith ranking fifth in the Ivy League in hitting percentage (.344) and Sabrina Stillwell ranking eighth overall (.316). The pair also ranks in the top 10 in the conference in kills per game with Stillwell ranking fourth overall (3.32) and Smith coming in at eighth (2.86). The Bears two setters, Sarah Lucenti and Rachele Kilian, are averaging 5.63 and 5.44 assists per game, respectively, while libero Melisa Cairo ranks first in the Ivy League and 21st in the nation with 5.11 digs per set. 
  
THE SERIES VS. YALE: Cornell and Yale first met in 1976, a 2-0 Bulldog victory. Yale went on to win the next four contests before the Big Red earned its first win in the series during the 1981 campaign. The Bulldogs have won the past 14 meetings, taking the lead in the all-time series, 38-25.

LAST TIME VS. THE BULLDOGS: The Big Red gave Ivy League leading Yale all it could handle, but came up short, falling in straight sets, 25-22, 27-25, 25-20. On her Senior Night, libero Natasha Rowland registered a match-high 20 digs to move into third place all-time in Cornell history with 1,281 career digs. Cornell (5-17, 2-10 Ivy) was led by freshman Maddy Sroufe and sophomore Macy Wilson with nine and eight kills, respectively. Wilson also hit a team-high .316 (8-2-19) and registered three total blocks (two solo). In addition to Rowland's stout defensive performance, freshman Emily Wemhoff registered 20 digs, while setter Alyssa Phelps finished with 30 assists and 10 digs. Yale (14-7, 10-2 Ivy) was led by Mollie Rogers, who registered 16 kills, hit .359 (16-2-39) and posted 11 digs. Kelly Johnson (13) and Maya Midzik (12) also finished with double-digit kills. Johnson also posted 20 digs. Setter Kelsey Crawford tallied 42 assists and 13 digs.

SCOUTING YALE: The Bulldogs opened Ivy League play with a 3-1 victory over Brown to improve to 6-4 overall and 1-0 in conference. Kelly Johnson leads Yale and ranks second in the Ivy League with 3.59 kills per set. Setter Kelsey is handing out 9.18 assists per set, good for third in the conference, while libero Kate Swanson is averaging 3.09 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 (4-7, .363) ... 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 98th in the nation. As a team, Cornell's 1.61 aces per set ranks 51st 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:
* Macey Wilson – fourth in hitting percentage (.347)
* Alyssa Phelps – fifth in assists per set (6.34)
* Chelsea Sincox – sixth in digs per set (3.89)
* Natalie Dandnhauer – fourth in service aces per set (0.34)
* Alex Basler – ninth in service aces per set (0.29)
 
SETTING UP: Junior Alyssa Phelps currently sits in eighth place in Cornell history for career assists (1,961), needing 21 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 (32), needing just four more to move past Joanna Weiss in 16th place. She is also 15th in block assists (189), and 13th in total blocks (221), needing three and 14, 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.

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 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.).