MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #16: Cornell at Princeton
MATCH TIME: Friday, Oct. 12, 2018; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Dillon Gymnasium (Princeton, N.J.)
SERIES RECORD: Princeton leads, 54-20
LAST MEETING: Princeton won, 3-0; Nov. 4, 2017 (Princeton, N.J.)
2018 RECORDS: Cornell (9-6, 4-1 Ivy); Princeton (11-5, 4-1 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/princeton/wvball/
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2QBTXjO
 
MATCH #17: Cornell at Penn
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Oct. 13, 2018; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: The Palestra (Philadelphia, Pa.)
SERIES RECORD: Penn leads, 44-28
LAST MEETING: Penn won, 3-1; Nov. 3, 2017 (Philadelphia, Pa.)
* 2018 RECORDS: Cornell (9-6, 4-1 Ivy); Penn (3-13, 0-5 Ivy)
LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=228926
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2PokHUN
 
* records prior to contests on Friday evening.
 
THE WEEKEND: The Big Red volleyball team will conclude the first half of Ivy League play when it heads to Princeton and Penn this weekend. Both Cornell and the Tigers are tied with Yale atop the Ivy League standings with identical conference marks of 4-1 overall. The teams will meet at Dillon Gymnasium on Friday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. The following night, Cornell will take on the Quakers at the Palestra at 5 p.m. Both games will be streamed live on ESPN+ at https://watch.espnplus.com/sports/.
 
THE SERIES VS. PRINCETON: The Cornell series with Princeton began in the 1974 season, a 2-0 Big Red victory. The Tigers have dominated the series since, owning a 54-20 record. The Big Red split with Princeton last season, earning its first victory in the series since 2013 and snapping Princeton's seven-match streak against the Big Red.
 
SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Princeton is tied with Cornell and Yale atop the Ivy League standings with a record of 11-5 overall and 4-1 in the conference.  
* The Tigers are also a perfect 2-0 in Dillon Gymnasium.
* Princeton has three players ranked in the top 10 in the Ivy League in kills per set – Maggie O'Connell (3.31), Devon Peterkin (2.93) and Clare Lenihan (2.65).
* Lenihan (.370), O'Connell (.317) and Caroline Sklaver (.287) are also in the top 10 in hitting percentage.
* Setter Jessie Harris leads the Ivy League with 11.69 assists per set.
* Defensively, Cameron Dames ranks third in the Ancient Eight with 4.33 digs per set.
* Peterkin also ranks in the top 10 in service aces (fourth – 0.31) and digs (3.00) per set.
 
THE SERIES VS. PENN: As is true for the series against Princeton, the Big Red and Penn first met in volleyball in 1974, a 2-0 Big Red victory. The Quakers went on to dominate the series for the rest of the 1970s and '80s, accounting for its 44-28 all-time lead, but since 2000 the series has been more even with Penn owning a slim 17-14 advantage. Cornell had won three in a row before falling to the Quakers last season.
 
SCOUTING THE QUAKERS: Penn is currently riding an eight game losing streak and enters Friday's game with Columbia with a record of 3-13 overall and 0-5 in the conference.
* Raven Sulaimon leads the team and ranks seventh in the Ivy League with 2.84 kills per set.
* Taylor Cooper has a team-best .277 hitting percentage, good for 10th in the conference.
* Defensively, Caroline Furrer ranks sixth in the Ancient Eight with 3.74 digs per set.
* Setter Grace James ranks fourth overall in the conference standings with 8.86 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 (39-47, .453) ... 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 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.  
 
MOVING UP: The following Big Red are moving up the Cornell rankings …
* Jenna Phelps – 10th in Block Assists (206); 14th in Total Blocks (230); 23rd in Block Solos (24); 24th in Service Aces (73)
* Carla Sganderlla – 15th in Kills (676); 23rd in Points (765.5)
* Jada Stackhouse – 25th in Block Assists (135); 27th in Total Blocks (154); 30th in Block Solos (19)
* Zoe Chamness – 16th in Assists (802)
* Katie Randolph – 19th in Assists (311)
* Lauren Donnelly – 20th in Assists (277)
* Lily Barber – 25th in Digs (635); 22nd in Assists (180)
 
NCAA TEAM RANKINGS: As a team, Cornell entered the week ranked among the top 100 in the NCAA …
* Assists Per Set – 81st (12.40)
* Blocks Per Set – 94th (2.23)
* Digs Per Set – 75th (16.03)
* Kills per set – 89th (13.18)
* Opponent Hitting Percentage – 11th (.150)
* Team Attacks – 68th (36.68)
 
NCAA INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: The following Big Red players entered the week ranked …
* Lily Barber – 107th – Digs per Set (4.48)
* Lily Barber – 158th – Total Digs (269)
* Jenna Phelps – 38th – Hitting Percentage (.372)
* Jenna Phelps – 81st – Blocks per Set (1.17)
* Jada Stackhouse – 192nd – Blocks per Set (1.02)
* Carla Sganderlla – 117th – Kills per Set (3.57)
 
IVY RANKINGS: Cornell is ranked in the top half of the Ivy League rankings in …
* Opponent Hitting Percentage (first – .150)
* Assists per set (third – 12.40)
* Kills per set (third – 13.18)
* Blocks per set (third – 2.23)
* Digs per set (second – 16.03)
 
INDIVIDUAL IVY RANKINGS: Cornell has players ranked in …
* Hitting Percentage – Jenna Phelps (first – .372)
* Kills per set – Carla Sganderlla (second – 3.57)
* Assists per set – Zoe Chamness (seventh – 6.78)
* Service Aces per set – Natalie Danenhauer (ninth – 0.27)
* Blocks per set – Jenna Phelps (second – 1.17); Jada Stackhouse (sixth – 1.02)
* Digs per set – Lily Barber (second – 4.48)
 
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 second half of Ivy League play begins in Newman Arena vs. Columbia on Oct. 20. The team will hold a free Kids Clinic following the match open to grades K-8. Please RSVP to camps@cornell.edu.