ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red volleyball team wrapped up the 2016 Cornell Invitational with a gutsy 3-1 victory over Marist this evening in Newman Arena. Cornell won the first two sets, 30-28 and 25-21, before dropping the third, 25-20. The Big Red took the decisive fourth set, 26-24, after trailing by as many as nine points.
 
"I'm very proud of how we pushed through the fourth set and closed the match," said Trudy Vande Berg, The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach Of Volleyball. "It took a determination and a focus on the part of our players that was fun to watch."
 
Cornell (2-1) finished the Invitational in second place behind James Madison, which went a perfect 3-0 on the weekend. For their efforts over the three games, Emily Wemhoff and Kit McCarty were named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
The duo led the Big Red offense against the Red Foxes, as Wemhoff tallied a team-high 13 kills with just two errors on 31 attempts (.355), while McCarty tallied 11 kills with four errors on 32 attempts for a .219 hitting percentage. Senior Macey Wilson and sophomore Carla Sganderlla finished with 10 kills apiece, with Wilson hitting .328 (10-2-23) and Sgardella adding 11 digs.  
 
The Big Red had two players – Lily Barber (22) and Kiley McPeek (20) – finish with 20 or more digs for the first time since Alyssa Phelps and Chelsea Sincox each had 20 digs vs. William & Mary on Sept. 5, 2015. Sincox added 10 digs tonight vs. Marist to round out the Big Red's double-digit digs.
 
Senior setter Alyssa Phelps posted 41 assists, while freshman Gabby Goodall came in late in the decisive fourth set and finished with eight assists, six of which came on Cornell's final six points of the match.
 
Freshman Samanta Arenas also saw her first collegiate action late in the fourth set and helped turn the tide for the Big Red, finishing with eight digs, one kill and one assist.
 
"It was a true team effort tonight," said Vande Berg. "The players new their assignments and did a great job. Kit just kept swinging and got us some big points and Kiley had another great game digging up everything that came near her. Late in the match, Sam, Gabby, Kara [Rogers] – they all came in and did what we needed them to do. Even the bench was great tonight, talking to the girls in the game and telling them what they were seeing. It was fantastic."
 
In the first set, Cornell jumped out to a solid 17-12 lead but saw Marist claw its way back to knot the game at 18-18. The teams battled back-and-forth until Marist fought off three consecutive Cornell set-points to go up, 25-24. A kill from Wemhoff knotted the game at 25-25. The teams saw three more ties down the stretch before another kill from Wemhoff, followed by a block from Jenna Phelps and McCarty handed Cornell the hard-fought 30-28 victory.
 
The Big Red jumped out to a 7-4 lead in the second set but once again, the Red Foxes fought back to tie the game at 13-13. Consecutive kills from Wilson gave Cornell some breathing room and the home team would not trail again en route to the 25-21 victory.
 
The third set was tightly contested to a 17-17 tie when Marist scored four unanswered points, which proved to be the difference, as it went on to win, 25-21.
 
The Red Foxes carried that momentum into the fourth set, building an 18-9 advantage. Cornell capitalized on three consecutive Marist errors, but still trailed by six points late in the set (21-15). A kill from McCarty opened the decisive 10-3 run that handed Cornell the 26-24 victory. During the run, the Big Red also received two kills from Wemhoff, two from Jenna Phelps, and one each from Wilson and Arenas, as well as a service ace from Barber.
 
Cornell (2-1) is back in action next weekend when it travels to the UMKC Kangaroo Klassic. The Big Red will face the host school on Friday, Sept. 9 at 1:30 p.m. EST, before taking on Bradley at 6:30 p.m. EST. The following day, Cornell will face Nebraska-Omaha at noon EST.
 
2016 CORNELL INVITATIONAL
Tournament Standings
1. James Madison (3-0)
2. Cornell (2-1)
3. Colgate (1-2)
4. Marist (0-3)

All-Tournament Team
MVP - Janey Goodman (JMU)
1. Taylor Austin (JMU)
2. Kelly Roberston (JMU)
3. Emily Wemhoff (Cornell)
4. Kit McCarty (Cornell)
5. Kathleen Harris (Colgate)
6. Lexi Millington (Marist)