MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #14: Cornell vs. Brown
MATCH TIME: Friday, Oct. 5, 2018; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 42-26
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-2; Nov. 11, 2017
2018 RECORDS: Cornell (8-5, 3-0 Ivy); Brown (8-5, 1-2 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wvball
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2Njfzzt
 
MATCH #15: Cornell vs. Yale
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Newman Arena (Ithaca, N.Y.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale leads, 43-26
LAST MEETING: Cornell won, 3-0; Nov. 10, 2017
* 2018 RECORDS: Cornell (8-5, 3-0 Ivy); Yale (8-4, 2-1 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wvball
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2Rnxcl6
 
* records prior to contests on Friday evening.
 
THE WEEKEND: The Big Red volleyball team puts its undefeated Ivy League record on the line this weekend when it plays host to Brown and Yale. The game vs. the Bears, which will serve as the team's Dig Pink contest, is slated for Friday, Oct. 5 at 7 p.m., while the contest vs. the Bulldogs is set for Saturday, Oct. 6 at 5 p.m. Live stats for both matches will be provided at http://www.sidearmstats.com/cornell/wvball, while video streams will be available on ESPN+ at https://watch.espnplus.com/sports/.
 
DIG PINK: Friday night's game vs. Brown will serve as the team's annual Dig Pink contest. The Big Red will join forces with the Side-Out Foundation as part of its Breast Cancer Awareness Rally. Those wishing to contribute can donate the day of the event or online at https://giving.side-out.org/campaigns/14158#/. Proceeds are distributed among research teams focused on target therapies and molecular profiling as well as "living with cancer" organizations nationwide.


THE SERIES VS. BROWN: Cornell's series with Brown began in the 1976 season and the Big Red has dominated from the beginning, winning the first seven meetings before falling to the Bears for the first time in 1984. Cornell owns a 42-26 record in the all-time series, winning 22 of the last 35 meetings.
 
SCOUTING THE BEARS: Brown snapped a two-match skid, and earned its first Ivy League victory of the year, when it defeated Penn, 3-2, last Saturday to improve to 8-5 overall (1-2 Ivy).
* The Bears are led by Sabrina Stillwell, whose 4.00 kills per set leads the Ivy League.
* Jacqueline Jacobs has a team-high .313 hitting percentage, good for sixth in the conference.  
* Defensively, Paris Winkler leads the team with 3.50 digs per set.
* Freshmen setter Kristen Sellers ranks third in the Ivy League with 9.83 assists per set.
 
THE SERIES VS. YALE: Cornell and Yale first met in 1976, a 2-0 Bulldog victory. Yale went on to win the next four contests before the Big Red earned its first win in the series during the 1981 campaign. Cornell snapped the Bulldog's 19-match winning with a 3-0 sweep last season, but Yale still holds the lead in the all-time series, 43-26.
 
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: The 8-4 Bulldogs sit in third-place in the Ivy League standings with a conference mark of 2-1 after falling to undefeated Princeton last weekend.
* Yale's Kelly Wirth and Ellis DeJardin both rank in the top 10 in the Ivy League for kills per set with averages of 2.77 and 2.76, respectively.
* Defensively, Kate Swanson leads the conference with 5.00 digs per set.
* Setter Frances Arnautou sits second overall in the conference standings with 10.40 assists per set.
* The Bulldogs are an extremely tough serving team, ranking second in the Ivy League with three players – Yurika Boyd, Swanson, and Arnautou – ranking in the top 10.
 
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 (38-46, .452) ... 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.
 
STRONG START: Cornell is 3-0 in the Ivy League for the first time since the 2008 season.
* If Cornell defeats Brown on Friday evening, it will be 4-0 in the conference for the first time since the 2005 team opened Ivy League play with 12 consecutive wins.
 
STREAKING: The Big Red is in the midst of a four-match winning streak, dating back to the team's victory over Western Illinois on Sept. 15.
* The streak is the longest since the 2006 squad won nine consecutive to close out the regular season.  
 
MOVING UP: The following Big Red are moving up the Cornell rankings …
* Jenna Phelps – 14th in Total Blocks (215); 14th in Block Assists (192); 24th in Service Aces (73); 26th in Block Solos (23).
* Carla Sganderlla – 15th in Kills (669); 23rd in Points (758.0)
* Jada Stackhouse – 25th in Block Assists (129); 29th in Total Blocks (145)
* Zoe Chamness – 16th in Assists (721)
* Katie Randolph – 18th in Assists (295)
* Lauren Donnelly – 20th in Assists (277)
* Lily Barber – 28th in Digs (597); 22nd in Assists (168)
 
NCAA TEAM RANKINGS: As a team, Cornell entered the week ranked among the top 100 in the NCAA …
Assists Per Set – 80th (12.385)
* Digs Per Set – 69th (16.18)
* Kills per set – 91st (13.24)
* Opponent Hitting Percentage – 18th (.154)
* Team Attacks – 58th (36.88)
 
NCAA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: The following Big Red players entered the week ranked …
* Lily Barber – 95th – Digs per Set (4.53)
* Lily Barber – 174th – Total Digs (231)
* Jenna Phelps – 79th – Hitting Percentage (.353)
* Jenna Phelps – 148th – Blocks per Set (1.07)
* Jada Stackhouse – 190th – Blocks per Set (1.02)
* Carla Sganderlla – 113th – Kills per Set (3.57)
 
IVY RANKINGS: Cornell is ranked in the top half of the Ivy League rankings in …
* Hitting Percentage (fourth – .201)
* Opponent Hitting Percentage (first – .154)
* Assists per set (third – 12.39)
* Kills per set (fourth – 13.24)
* Blocks per set (fourth – 2.16)
* Digs per set (third – 16.18)
 
INDIVIDUAL IVY RANKINGS: Cornell has players ranked in …
* Hitting Percentage – Jenna Phelps (third – .353); Jada Stackhouse (eighth – .284); Carla Sganderlla (18th – .234)
* Kills per set – Carla Sganderlla (second – 3.57); Avery Hanan (18th – 2.54)
* Assists per set – Zoe Chamness (seventh – 6.38)
* Service Aces per set – Natalie Danenhauer (11th – 0.28); Lily Barber (14th – 0.25); Zoe Chamness (20th – 0.22)
* Blocks per set – Jenna Phelps (sixth – 1.07); Jada Stackhouse (seventh – 1.02);
* Digs per set – Lily Barber (third – 4.53)
 
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 concludes the first half of Ivy League play when it travels to Princeton and Penn next weekend. Cornell will take on the Tigers on Friday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. and the Quakers on Saturday, Oct. 13 at 5 p.m.