MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #19: Cornell at Dartmouth
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 26, 2018; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Leede Arena (Hanover, N.H.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 43-18
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-0; Sept. 29, 2018 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2018 RECORDS: Cornell (10-8, 5-3 Ivy); Dartmouth (7-11, 3-5 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: https://bit.ly/2Q9zhAx
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2PP9Y67
 
MATCH #20: Cornell at Harvard
MATCH TIME: Sunday, Oct. 27, 2018; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Malkin Athletic Center (Cambridge, Mass.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 39-28
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-1; Sept. 28, 2018 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
* 2018 RECORDS: Cornell (10-8, 5-3 Ivy); Harvard (9-8, 4-4 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: https://bit.ly/2yWOWLr
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2PdRnU7
 
* records prior to Friday's contest
 
THE WEEKEND: Sitting in third place in the Ivy League standings, the Big Red volleyball team will look to gain some separation when it travels to fourth place Harvard (9-8, 4-4 Ivy) and fifth place Dartmouth (7-11, 3-5 Ivy)this weekend. Cornell (10-8, 5-3 Ivy) will take on the Big Green on Friday, Oct. 26 before visiting the Crimson on Saturday, Oct. 27. Both matches are slated to begin at 5 p.m. and can be viewed on ESPN+ at: https://es.pn/2IirH2V.
 
THE SERIES VS. DARTMOUTH: Cornell's series with Dartmouth began in 1981 and the Big Red has dominated from the beginning, winning the first 13 meetings before falling to the Big Green for the first time on Oct. 12, 1996.
* Cornell owns a 43-18 record in the all-time series after splitting their two meetings in each of the past two seasons.
* The Big Red won the first meeting of the 2018 season in Ithaca, 3-0.  
 
SCOUTING THE BIG GREEN: Dartmouth enters the weekend with an overall record of 7-11, but the Big Green has a winning record at Leede Arena (4-2) and sits in fifth place in the conference standings with a mark of 3-5.
* Freshman Nichole Liddle leads the team with 2.57 kills per set, while classmate Francesca Meldrum ranks second in the conference in hitting percentage (.349).
* Dartmouth leads the Ancient Eight in blocks per set (2.44), as Tola Akinwumi (1.27) and Meldrum (1.14) rank first and second, respectively, in the conference.
* Defensively, Zoe Leonard ranks fifth in the Ivy League with 3.94 digs per set.
* Setters Annemarie Horn and Corinne Cox average 4.89 and 4.39 assists per set, respectively.
 
THE SERIES VS. HARVARD: Cornell and Harvard first met in 1977, a 2-0 Big Red victory. Cornell went on to win the next 10 contests before the Crimson earned its first win in the series during the 1988 campaign.
* Harvard won eight consecutive outings from 2012 to 2015 to gain some ground in the series, but the teams have split their two meetings in each of the past two seasons as Cornell maintains a 39-28 leads in the all-time series.
* The Big Red won the first meeting of the 2018 season in Ithaca, 3-1.  
 
SCOUTING THE CRIMSON: Harvard enters the weekend sitting directly below the Big Red in the Ivy League standings with a record of 9-8 overall and 4-4 in the conference.
* The Crimson return a pair of All-Ivy honorees from a year ago – Christina Cornelius (first team) and Grace Roberts Burbank (second team).
* Cornelius leads the team in hitting percentage (.296) and kills per set (2.78), marks that are good for seventh and ninth, respectively, in the Ivy League.
* Cornelius is also third in the Ancient Eight in blocks per set (1.13), while Maclaine Fields is sixth overall (1.04).
* Defensively, Anna Uhr is seventh in the conference with 3.72 digs per set.
* Freshmen setter Bella Almanza averages 7.53 assists per set.
 
THE HEAD COACH: Trudy Vande Berg, the 2017 Ivy League Coach of the Year, is in her fourth season as The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach Of Volleyball at Cornell (40-49, .449) ... 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: Jada Stackhouse was named the Ivy League Player of the Week on Oct. 22 after helping the Big Red earn its first season sweep of Columbia since the 2013 season.
* It is Cornell's first honor of the season and the first Ivy accolade of Stackhouse's career.
* Stackhouse was nearly perfect against the Lions with 10 kills and just one error on a mere 13 attempts. * The 10 kills matched a career-high and Stackhouse also registered six blocks (one solo) to help hold Columbia to a .157 hitting percentage.
 
MOVING UP: The following Big Red are moving up the Cornell rankings …
* Jenna Phelps – 10th in Block Assists (211); 13th in Total Blocks (235); 23rd in Block Solos (24); 23rd in Service Aces (76); 30th in Points (629.5)
* Carla Sganderlla – 15th in Kills (692); 20th in Points (783.0)
* Jada Stackhouse – 24th in Block Assists (147); 24th in Total Blocks (169); 29th in Block Solos (22)
* Zoe Chamness – 16th in Assists (886)
* Katie Randolph – 19th in Assists (338)
* Lauren Donnelly – 20th in Assists (277)
* Lily Barber – 23rd in Digs (674); 21st in Assists (201)
 
NCAA TEAM RANKINGS: As a team, Cornell entered the week ranked among the top 100 in the NCAA …
* Opponent Hitting Percentage – 32nd (.162)
* Team Attacks – 90th (36.24)
 
NCAA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: The following Big Red players entered the week ranked …
* Jenna Phelps – 125th – Hitting Percentage (.329)
* Carla Sganderlla – 133rd – Kills per Set (3.46)
* Lily Barber – 140th – Digs per Set (4.28)
* Jada Stackhouse – 140th – Blocks per Set (1.06)
* Jenna Phelps – 173rd – Blocks per Set (1.03)
* Lily Barber – 198th – Total Digs (308)
 
IVY RANKINGS: Cornell is ranked in the top half of the Ivy League rankings in …
* Hitting Percentage (fourth – .198)
* Assists per set (third – 12.19)
* Kills per set (third – 12.94)
* Blocks per set (fourth – 2.15)
* Digs per set (third – 15.65)
* Opponent Hitting Percentage (first – .162)
 
INDIVIDUAL IVY RANKINGS: Cornell has players ranked in …
* Hitting Percentage – Jenna Phelps (fifth – .329)
* Hitting Percentage – Jada Stackhouse (10th – .278)
* Kills per set – Carla Sganderlla (third – 3.46)
* Assists per set – Zoe Chamness (seventh – 6.82)
* Blocks per set – Jada Stackhouse (fifth – 1.06); Jenna Phelps (seventh – 1.03)
* Digs per set – Lily Barber (second – 4.28)
* Points per set – Carla Sganderlla (third – 3.70)
 
STRONG START: Cornell opened the season with four consecutive Ivy League victories for the first time since the 2005 season when the team opened Ivy play with 12 consecutive wins.
 
STREAKING: The Big Red posted a five-match winning streak earlier this season beginning with a win over Western Illinois on Sept. 15 and ending with a win vs. Brown on Oct. 5.
* The streak was the longest since the 2006 squad won nine consecutive to close out the regular season. 
 
PRESEASON POLL:  Cornell was picked to finish fourth overall with 79 points in the 2018 Ivy League Volleyball Preseason Media Poll.
* The Big Red came in behind third-place Harvard (97 points). Cornell and the Crimson tied for third in the conference standings in 2017, the highest finish for Cornell since 2006.
* Princeton (135 points) was picked to win its fourth-straight Ivy League title, edging second-place Yale by just 15 points.
* Rounding out the poll were Penn with 68 points, Columbia with 49 points, Dartmouth with 48 points and Brown with 20 points.
 
SEASON OPENERS: Cornell is 28-16-1 all-time in season openers. Since 1995, the Big Red is an impressive 15-7 after defeating Buffalo in the first match of the 2018 season.
 
THE CORNELL INVITATIONAL: For the second year in a row, the Big Red finished second to St. John's in the Cornell Invitational. Both years, the two teams posted identical records of 2-1, with the Red Strom winning the title by virtue of set win percentage.
 
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS:
* Lily Barber was named to both the Cornell Invitational and the Crusader Classic All-Tournament Teams.
* Carla Sganderlla was also named to the Cornell Invitational All-Tournament Team along with Barber.
* Jenna Phelps was named to the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup All-Tournament Team.
 
TICKLE THE ALL-IVY: Trudy Vande Berg was voted the 2017 Ivy League Coach of the Year by her peers after leading the Big Red to its best season in more than a decade. In addition to Vande Berg, Kiley McPeek (first-team), Jenna Phelps (second-team), and Kit McCarty (honorable mention) were also named to the All-Ivy team.
 
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK: Madison Baptiste, Kelly Behrbaum, Jillienne Bennett, Avery Hanan, Blake Hollis, and Casey Justus have joined the Big Red for the upcoming 2018 season. The six student-athletes all hail from different states, and the group consists of two pin hitters, two middle blockers, one right side hitter, and one outside hitter.
 
HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE: Ten new members, including volleyball great Joanna Weiss, have been selected for induction into the Cornell University Athletics Hall of Fame at the 41st annual ceremonies to be held Saturday, Sept. 22 on the Cornell campus. Weiss was a two-time first-team All-Ivy League selection and is one of just two Big Red athletes to be named to the AVCA All-Northeast Region team, earning honorable mention honors as a senior. The school's career leader in hitting percentage (.384), she ranks in the top 10 in blocks per set (second, 1.29), block assists (sixth, 262) and blocks (ninth, 297) and among the top 20 in kills, kills per set, solo blocks, points and points per set.
 
RECAPPING 2017: Vande Berg was voted the 2017 Ivy League Coach of the Year by her peers after leading the Big Red to its best season in more than a decade. Cornell finished the year with a 12-11 record overall and a mark of 8-6 in the Ivy League, tied with Harvard for third place in the conference standings. The eight Ivy League wins were the most for Cornell since the 2006 season, which was also the last time the Big Red finished in third place in the conference. The team posted a 9-1 record in Newman Arena, the most home wins in a season since 2006, and the best winning percentage since the 2005 squad was a perfect 12-0 in Ithaca. Under Vande Berg's guidance, Cornell lead the Ivy League in digs per set and ranked in the top half of the conference in opponent hitting percentage (second), assists (second), kills (second), blocks (third) and service aces (third).
 
UP NEXT: The Big Red returns home for the final time this season and will honor its seniors – Shae Bauchens, Natalie Danenhauer, Lauren Donnelly, Zoe Lequeux, Kara Rogers, Carla Sganderlla – when it welcomes Penn and Princeton to Newman Arena next weekend. Cornell will face the Quakers at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 2, before taking on the Tigers at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 3.