ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell volleyball team evened its record by opening the Big Red Invitational with a 3-1 victory over Binghamton on Friday evening at Newman Arena. The home team knocked off its Central New York rival by scores of 25-18, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21 to move to 2-2. The Bearcats slipped to 3-5 on the year.
Emily Wemhoff posted a match-high 17 kills for a Big Red offense that hit .206 overall.
Kit McCarty added 13 kills and
Samanta Arenas had 11 kills and 17 digs.
Jenna Phelps had nine kills on .600 hitting and added eight total blocks, while
Jada Stackhouse notched eight kills and six blocks. In all, the Big Red had 14 team blocks and registered 95 digs, including a career-best 31 from
Kiley McPeek. The trio of
Chelsea Sincox,
Lauren Donnelly and
Katie Randolph combined for 49 assists in the win.
Binghamton's Kristella Morina had 15 kills, while Gabby Alicea notched 12 kills and 20 digs and Lexi LaGoy posted 10 kills. Three Bearcats hit the 20-dig mark,with Samantha Gioiosa registering 21 and Sarah Ngo adding 29 to go along with her 41 assists. The visitors hit .160, though just .124 in its three set losses.
With the match tied 1-1 and the Big Red trailing 18-15 in the third, the home team came alive. Three consecutive kills by Wemhoff and a service ace punctuated a 5-0 run that pushed Cornell into the lead. Binghamton tied the set at 20-20, but another Wemhoff kill put Cornell back into the lead for good, and McCarty put another down to take the 2-1 edge.
The fourth was a back-and-fourth affair that Cornell finally took control of after Binghamton knotted the match at 17-17. Consecutive kills by Stackhouse and Phelps made it 19-17, and a service ace by McPeek pushed the advantage to 20-17, forcing a Bearcat timeout. A block by Phelps and
Kara Rogers kept the momentum, and the Big Red cruised to its second straight win.
Cornell will play a pair of matches on Saturday while attempting to claim the tournament title, hosting St. John's at 11 a.m. and Valparaiso at 7 p.m. All six tournament matches are being broadcast live on the Ivy League Network.
