MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #17: Cornell at Columbia
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017; 2:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Levien Gymnasium (New York, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 52-13
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-1; Sept. 23, 2017 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2017 RECORDS: Cornell (8-8, 4-3 Ivy); Columbia (6-10, 1-6 Ivy)
LIVE STATS 
LIVE VIDEO
 
THE MATCHUP: The Cornell volleyball team will seek its first season-sweep of Columbia since the 2013 campaign when it travels to New York City to take on the Lions at Levien Gymnasium on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. The Big Red is coming off its first Ivy weekend sweep since 2012, as it defeated Penn and Princeton to even its record at 8-8 overall and improve to 4-3 in the conference. Columbia also took advantage of its first home Ivy weekend of the season, taking the Quakers to five sets before picking up its first conference win of the year against the Tigers, 3-2, the following night.

THE SERIES VS. COLUMBIA: The Big Red and the Lions have played 65 times dating back to 1977, with Cornell holding a dominating 52-13 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 and the teams have split the series in each of the past three years. Cornell won the first meeting this season, 3-1, in Newman Arena.

SCOUTING THE LIONS: Columbia ended a seven-match losing streak in dramatic fashion, as it defeated Princeton, 3-2, last weekend at Levien Gym. With the win, the Lions improved to 6-10 overall and 1-6 in the Ivy League.  The team is led by Chichi Ikwuazom, who leads the conference and is 20th in the nation with a .402 hitting percentage. The reigning Ivy League Rookie of the Year, she is also second on the team, behind Anja Malesevic (3.29 kills per game), with 2.43 kills per game and leads the squad with 1.13 blocks per set. The Lions are an extremely tough serving team, ranking first in the Ivy League and 10th in the nation in aces per set (1.76). Defensively, Katie Wood leads the team with 3.73 digs per set, while freshman Audrey Cheng and Grace Campbell average 7.33 and 6.53 assists per set, respectively.
 
LAST TIME VS. COLUMBIA: Emily Wemhoff recorded a career-high 23 kills to lift the Big Red to a 3-1 victory in the Ivy League opener vs. Columbia on Oct. 21 at Newman Arena. Cornell won the first set, 27-25, before the Lions fought back to take a 26-24 win in the second set. The Big Red stormed back after the intermission to win the match, 25-19, 25-18, and even its record at 5-5. Wemhoff was the only Cornell player to reach double-digits in kills, but was one of three Big Red to hit over .400 for the match as Jenna Phelps (8-0-15) and Kara Rogers (6-0-14) combined for 14 kills on 29 attempts with no errors to hit .533 and .429, respectively. Phelps also added seven total blocks (six assisted), while Rogers chipped in four block assists. Defensively, libero Kiley McPeek finished with 16 digs, while Samanta Arena added 11 to the cause. Overall, Cornell held the Lions to just .160 hitting for the game and kept Chichi Ikwuazom, who entered the game leading the conference with a .411 hitting percentage, to a mere .235 hitting with just seven kills. Freshman Zoe Chamness led the team with 29 assists, while Chelsea Sincox finished with 24. Columbia (5-5, 0-1 Ivy) was led by Jamie Dailey' 14 kills.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Trudy Vande Berg is in her third season as The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach Of Volleyball at Cornell (26-38, .406) ... 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.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
* Kiley McPeek was named the Ivy League Player of the Week after helping Cornell to its first Ivy League weekend sweep since 2012, as the Big Red downed Princeton and Penn.
* It was the first Ivy weekly award of McPeek's career and she becomes just the second libero to take home the honor since Penn's Dani Shepard won it multiple times during the 2012 campaign.
* McPeek averaged 7.38 digs per set during the weekend and had 53 service receptions without a single error.
* She registered 35 digs against the Tigers, the most digs in the Ivy League this season, surpassing her own mark of 31 vs. Binghamton. It was also the 14th most digs in the NCAA this season for a four-set match.
* The mark is good for 13th place in Cornell history for digs in a match, and third overall for digs in a four-set match.
* After leading the Big Red to a thrilling 3-1 victory over Columbia on Sept. 23, senior Emily Wemhoff was named the Ivy League Player of the Week.
* The honor was the first of Wemhoff's career and the first for the Big Red this season.
* Wemhoff recorded a career-high 23 kills as the only Cornell player to reach double-digits. 
* The 23 kills are the most in the Ivy League so far this season and also rank 17th in the Cornell history for kills in a four-set match.
* Wemhoff finished the match with a .405 hitting percentage (23-6-42), the best single-game performance of her career, to go along with four digs, two assists and one block.
 
GET OUT THE BROOM: With its consecutive 3-1 wins over Princeton (Oct. 13) and Penn (Oct. 14) the Big Red completed its first Ivy League weekend sweep since 2012.  
 
CLOSE CALLS & FREE VOLLEYBALL: In Cornell's seven Ivy League matches this season, the Big Red has played 28 sets, 11 of which have been decided by just two points (.393) with nine of the 11 going to extra points. 
 
ACES: Jenna Phelps came one ace shy of breaking the school record for aces in a match (8) when she registered seven vs. Brown on Oct. 6.
* Phelps enters the week leading the Ivy League and ranking fifth in the nation with 0.57 aces per set.
 
GRINDING OUT A WIN: The Big Red is 7-4 in matches that go more than three sets. Cornell is just 1-3 in three-set matches.
 
MOVING UP: The following Big Red are moving up the Cornell rankings …
Emily Wemhoff
* 10th – Kills (767)
* 15th – Points (839.5)
Kit McCarty
* 14th – Kills (708)
* 19th – Points (797.0)
Chelsea Sincox
* 17th – Assists (427)
* 20th – Digs (740)
Lauren Donnelly
* 18th – Assists (277)
Kiley McPeek
* 17th – Digs (792)
Zoe Chamness
* 19th - Assists (235)
 
NCAA TEAM RANKINGS: As a team, Cornell entered the week ranked …
* 2nd – Attacks per Set (41.18)
* 19th – Digs per Set (17.56)
* 30th – Assists per Set (13.15)
* 39th – Kills per Set (13.90)
* 83rd – Blocks per Set (2.28)
 
NCAA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: Big Red players entered the week ranked …
* 5th – Aces per Set (Jenna Phelps – 0.57)
* 40th – Digs per Set (Kiley McPeek – 5.00)
* 53rd – Blocks per Set (Jenna Phelps – 1.25)
* 105th – Aces per Set (Kiley McPeek – 0.36)
* 147th – Attacks per Set (Emily Wemhoff – 9.84)
* 187th – Blocks per Set (Jada Stackhouse – 1.02)
 
IVY RANKINGS: The Big Red ranks in the top half of the Ivy League in …
* Digs – 1st (17.56)
* Assists – 1st (13.15)
* Kills – 2nd (13.90)
* Blocks – 3rd (2.28)
* Service Aces – 4th (1.33)
* Opponent Hitting Percentage – 4th (.197)
 
INDIVIDUAL IVY RANKINGS: Big Red players rank in the Ivy League in …
* Hitting Percentage – Jenna Phelps (9th – .293)
* Kills per Set – Emily Wemhoff (6th – 3.03); Samanta Arenas (7th – 2.94)
* Assists per Set – Zoe Chamness (8th – 5.88); Chelsea Sincox (9th – 5.13)
* Service Aces per Set – Jenna Phelps (1st – 0.57); Kiley McPeek (5th – 0.36)
* Blocks per Set – Jenna Phelps (1st – 1.25); Jada Stackhouse (7th – 1.02)
* Digs per Set – Kiley McPeek (1st – 5.00); Samanta Arenas (8th – 3.15)
* Points per Set – Samanta Arenas (7th – 3.25); Emily Wemhoff (8th – 3.25); Jenna Phelps (9th – 3.10);
 
DIGS A LOT: Kiley McPeek leads the conference with 5.00 digs per set. That mark is the highest by a Cornell player since Natasha Rowland averaged 5.67 digs during the 2014 season.
 
THE SWITCH: Two of Cornell's biggest contributors this season – Kiley McPeek and Chelsa Sincox – are playing positions that are significantly different than when they arrived on East Hill. McPeek joined the Big Red as an outside hitter and moved into the Libero role midway through the 2016 season. Sincox has spent the past three seasons as one of the team's top defensive specialists, before becoming one of the team's primary setters in the 2017 campaign.
 
DID YOU KNOW?:
* 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 … During the summer of 2016, she did an internship in Istanbul, Turkey and was in the country during an 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 graduated from 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.
 
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM:
* Through the first two tournaments of the season, Kiley McPeek picked up a pair of all-tournament selections (JMU's Tropical Smoothie Invitational; Big Red Invitational).
* Emily Wemhoff was named to the Big Red Invitational All-Tournament team. 
* Kit McCarty and Kara Rogers were named to the Colgate Invitational All-Tournament Team.
 
BIG RED INVITATIONAL: Cornell came out of the Big Red Invitational with two wins for the first time since 2007, and just missed out on earning its first tournament title since 2005, as St. John's took the crown by tiebreaker (set winning percentage). 
 
RECAPPING 2016: Coming off its best performance since 2008, Cornell finished the 2016 season with a 12-12 record overall, posting six more victories than it did the year prior, the best single-season turnaround since the 2003 team went 21-4 following a 14-12 performance in 2002. With its record of 6-8 in the Ivy League, the Big Red finished fifth in the conference standings for its highest finish since the 2008 team placed third.
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red is back in action next weekend when it welcomes Dartmouth and Harvard to Newman Arena. Cornell will take on the Big Green, and host its annual Dig Pink game, on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m., before it battles the Crimson on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5 p.m.