KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Big Red volleyball team picked up a win in its final match of the UMKC Kangaroo Klassic by defeating the University of Nebraska-Omaha, 3-1 (25-19, 25-23, 20-25, 25-16), this afternoon at the Swinney Rec Center in Kanas City, Mo. With the win, Cornell evens its record at 3-3 on the season.
Maddy Sroufe led the Big Red, recording a game-high 13 kills (13-3-34), to go along with 14 digs, and four service aces. For her efforts over the three games, Sroufe was named to the Kangaroo Klassic All-Tournament Team. Cornell hit a solid .268 as a team with
Macey Wilson (8-0-12),
Kit McCarty (9-1-21) and
Emily Wemhoff (7-1-16) combining to hit .449 with 22 kills and just two errors as a group. McCarty also added six block assists, while Wilson and
Jenna Phelps chipped in five apiece as the team recorded 20 team blocks on the afternoon.
Senior setter
Alyssa Phelps posted 30 assists, while freshman
Gabby Goodall saw valuable time and handed out 10 helpers. Freshman libero
Lily Barber finished the day with 15 digs.
UNO (2-9) was led by Megan Roth and Hannah Angeli with 13 and 11 kills, repetitively.
Despite the final scores of each match being relatively close, there were just 11 ties and three lead changes in the entire four-set match.
Cornell jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the first set behind a pair of kills from Wilson, service aces from Srouge and Barker, and four Maverick attack errors. UNO came back to knot the set at 9-9, but a kill from Sroufe returned the lead to Cornell. The Mavericks tie the game three more times, with the last coming at 12-12, but five unanswered Cornell points handed the Big Red a lead it would not relinquish en route to the 25-20 victory.
The second set was back-and-forth until a kill from Wilson and consecutive service aces Sroufe gave Cornell a 13-9 lead. The Big Red held a slim led until a kill from UNO's Ellie Brown tied the game at 23-23. Back-to-back kills from Wemhoff and McCarty handed the Big Red the 25-23 win.
In the third set, Cornel hit just .146 and couldn't comeback after a 9-2 start by the Mavericks, who went on to win, 25-20.
The fourth set was all Cornell, as the Big Red hit a blistering .478 as a team, registering 11 kills with no errors on 23 attempts, to win big. Cornell jumped out to an early 7-2 lead on the strength of some outstanding serving from Barber, who registered two aces during the run. UNO pulled within two (8-6) after three straight kills form Meagen Roth, but the Big Red responded with a 12-3 run, which was punctuated by consecutive kills from McCarthy to put Cornell up, 20-9. From there, the Big Red rolled to the 25-16 victory.
The Big Red wraps up the tournament season with a trip to the Bison Classic where it will take on Bucknell in the first round of action on Friday, Sept. 16 at 7:30 p.m. The Classic concludes the next day with the Big Red taking on Buffalo at 10 a.m. and Oakland at 4 p.m. Cornell has a dominating all-time record vs. both Bucknell (13-2) and Buffalo (14-6), but lost the lone meeting with Oakland, 3-0, during the 2010 season.
