ITHACA, N.Y. -- Maddy Sroufe and Kit McCarty combined for 35 kills, but the Cornell volleyball team couldn't close the door on a Brown rally in a 3-2 loss on Friday evening at Newman Arena. The Bears improved to 3-9 (1-1 Ivy), while the Big Red slipped to 5-6 (0-2 Ivy) with the defeat.

Sroufe had a match-high 18 kills and McCarty had 17 for an offense that hit .275 as a group, but it was a balanced Brown attack that allowed the road team to squeak out the win.Payton Smith led the way with 13 kills on .619 hitting and both Makena Ehlert (11 kills) and Shirin Tooloee (10 kills) also hit for double figures. Melissa Cairo had 24 digs to lead both teams.

The key set turned out to be the second, won by Brown 25-23. The Bears survived 16 ties and six lead changes to come back after trailing from the first serve in the first set, a 25-11 Big Red win. Cornell rallied from a nine-point deficit (14-5) to reclaim momentum in the third, winning the final points on a pair of Soufre kills sandwiched around a block and a kill from Carla Sganderila.

Brown regained the momentum in the fourth by going up 14-6 out of the gates, The home team got back to within 24-21 with three straight points to make it look like similar to the third-set rally, but Brown closed it out to take it a fifth. Once there, Cornell got to the switch with an 8-6 edge before the Bears rattled off five consecutive points to take the lead. Cornell tied it at 12-12, but Brown was able to win it on a quick set to Jacqueline Jacobs, who ended the match with her only swing of the set.

The Big Red returns to action when it hosts Yale tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Newman Arena.