MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #10: Cornell at Columbia
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Sept. 24, 2016; 2:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Levien Gym (New York, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 50-12
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-2; Oct. 24, 2015
2016 RECORDS: Cornell (5-4, 0-0 Ivy); Columbia (5-5, 0-0 Ivy)
LIVE STATS
LIVE VIDEO
  
THE MATCHUP: The Big Red volleyball team opens the 31st season of Ivy League play when it travels to New York City to take on Columbia at Levien Gym on Saturday, Sept. 24 at 2 p.m. Cornell is off to its best start in over a decade with a 5-4 record, while the Lions also had a solid non-conferences season, going 5-5.

THE SERIES VS. COLUMBIA: The Big Red and the Lions have played 62 times dating back to 1977, with Cornell holding a dominating 50-12 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. The teams have split the series in each of the past two years.
 
LAST TIME VS. THE LIONS: The Big Red picked up its first Ivy League win of the season, defeating Columbia, 3-2, on Oct. 24, 2015 at Levien Gymnasium in New York City. The Lions won the first set, 25-18, but the visitors took the lead with consecutive 25-18 victories. Columbia edged the Big Red, 25-23, to force a fifth set, which Cornell won, 15-13. Cornell had four players reach double-digit kills, led by Carla Sganderlla's 15. Sophomore Emily Wemhoff finished with 13 kills and a team-high .393 hitting percentage, while Macey Wilson  posted 10 kills and finished with a team-high four block assists. Libero Chelsea Sincox finished with a match-high 25 digs, while defensive specialist Natalie Danenhauer had 18 digs and three service aces. Sganderlla posted a double-double with a career-high 16 digs and Kiley McPeek rounded out the Cornell players in double figures with 10 digs. Setter Alyssa Phelps handed out 44 assists to move into fifth place in Cornell history for career assists (2,184). Columbia was led by Aja Malesevic and Kesi  Neblett with 11 kills apiece, as Malesevic posted a match-high .409 (11-2-22). Setter Alex Reale tallied 51 assists and libero Cassie Wes matched Sincox's performance with 25 digs.
 
SCOUTING COLUMBIA: After losing its first there matches of the season, the Lions have rebounded to close non-conference play with a 5-5 record. Columbia freshman Chichi Ikwuazom has proved to be a force, leading the Ivy League in both hitting percentage (.407) and blocks (1.65). Setter Grace Campbell leads the conference in assists per game (10.07) and the reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year, Cassie Wes is posting a circuit-best 5.12 digs per contest.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Trudy Vande Berg is in her second season as The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach Of Volleyball at Cornell (11-22, .333) ... 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.
 
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: With its 2-1 showing at the Bucknell Invitational, Cornell improved to 5-4 on the year, amassing the most non-conference wins in a season since 2006 (7) ... With one non-conference games to play, the Big Red has also guaranteed its first .500 non-conference record since that 2006 squad went 7-7.  
 
NCAA RANKINGS: Entering the week, Carla Sganderlla's .50 service aces per set ranks 19th in the nation.
 
IN THE RANKINGS: Several Cornell players are raked in the top 10 of various Ivy League statistical categories, including:
* Macey Wilson – sixth in hitting percentage (.320)
* Jenna Phelps – ninth in hitting percentage (.303)
* Kit McCarty – 10th in hitting percentage (.300)
* Carla Sganderlla – fifth in kills per set (3.00)
* Maddy Sroufe – sixth in kills per set (2.88)
* Kit McCarty – eighth in kills per set (2.72)
* Alyssa Phelps – fourth in assists per set (8.06)
* Carla Sganderlla – first in service aces per set (0.50)
* Jenna Phelps – third in blocks per set (1. 03)
* Lily Barber – fifth in digs per set (3.59)
 
SETTING UP: Senior Alyssa Phelps is just the fourth player in Big Red history to surpass 2,500 assists in a career, sitting fourth overall with 2,601 helpers. She needs just 195 more to surpass Whitney Fair '06 in third place.
 
BIG BLOCKER: Senior Macey Wilson ranks 15th in Cornell history for career solo blocks (41), needing just six more to move past Traci Mizoguchi '96 in 14th place. She is also sixth in block assists (253) and ninth in total blocks (294), needing nine and four, respectively, to move up a notch.
 
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:  Juniors Kit McCarty and Emily Wemnoff were named to the Cornell Invitational All-Tournament … Junior Maddy Sroufe was named to the UMKC Kangaroo Klassic All-Tournament Team … McCarty and sophomore Carla Sganderlla were name to the Bucknell Invitational All-Tournament Tea.  
 
DID YOU KNOW:
* Alyssa Phelps is a research assistant in the Ophir Integrative Neuroethology Lab at Cornell … Alyssa and Jenna Phelps are sisters.
* 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 … This past summer, she did an internship in Istanbul, Turkey and was in the country during the attempted coup d'état.
* 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 ... Her brother attends Cornell.
* Kara Rogers lived in Germany for a year … Her sister is a member of the Yale swimming team.
* Maddy Sroufe's younger sister plays volleyball at VCU.
* This past summer, Chelsea Sincox worked for congressman Pete Olson … Last summer she interned at NASA.
 
SEASON OPENERS: With its win over Colgate on Sept. 3, Cornell improved to 29-14-1 all-time in season openers. Since 1995, the Big Red is an impressive 16-5 in the first match of the season ... Coach Vande Berg is a perfect 2-0 in season openers.
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: The Big Red added six freshmen – as Samanta Arenas, Lily Barber, Sophia Beaudoin, Jenna Phelps, Katie Randolph and Jada Stackhouse – to the roster for the 2016 season. The six student-athletes hail from six different states and the group consists of two middle blockers, two outside hitters, one setter, and one defensive specialist.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red returns home for the first time in nearly a month when it welcomes Brown and Yale to Newman Arena. Cornell will face the Bears on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Bulldogs on Saturday, Oct. 1 at 5 p.m.