MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #8: Cornell at Valparaiso
MATCH TIME: Friday, Sept. 14, 2018; 8:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Athletics-Recreation Center (Valparaiso, Ind.)
SERIES RECORD: Valparaiso leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: Valparaiso won, 3-1; Sept. 9, 2017
2018 RECORDS: Cornell (4-3, 0-0 Ivy); Valparaiso (9-2, 0-0 Missouri Valley)
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/225989
LIVE VIDEO: https://es.pn/2CHwwng
 
MATCH #9: Cornell vs. Wright State
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018; 11:00 a.m.
MATCH SITE: Athletics-Recreation Center (Valparaiso, Ind.)
SERIES RECORD: Wright State leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: Wright State won, 3-0; Dec. 6, 1991
* 2018 RECORDS: Cornell (4-3, 0-0 Ivy); Wright State (6-3, 0-0 Horizon League)
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/225987  
LIVE VIDEO: None
 
MATCH #10: Cornell vs. Western Illinois
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018; 5:30 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Athletics-Recreation Center (Valparaiso, Ind.)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
* 2018 RECORDS: Cornell (4-3, 0-0 Ivy); Western Illinois (1-8, 0-0 Summit League)
LIVE STATS: http://statb.us/b/225988  
LIVE VIDEO: None
 
* records prior to Friday evening's contest.
 
THE CRUSADER CLASSIC: Cornell wraps up the tournament season this weekend with a trip to Valparaiso's Crusader Classic. The Big Red takes on the host school on Friday, Sept. 14 at 8 p.m., before coming back the next day to play Wright State (11 a.m.) and Western Illinois (5:30 p.m.). Live stats will be provided for all three matches through http://www.statbroadcast.com/, while video stream will be available only for the Big Red's match vs. Valparaiso on ESPN+.
 
THE SERIES VS. VALPO: The Crusaders won the only meeting between the two teams, a 3-1 decision at the 2017 Cornell Invitational.
 
VS. THE MISSOURI VALLEY: Cornell is 0-5 all-time vs. the 10 current members of the Missouri Valley Conference.
* The Big Red is 0-1 all-time vs. Bradly, Drake, Indiana State, Loyola-Chicago, and Valpo.
* Cornell has never faced Evansville, Illinois State, Missouri State, UNI, or Southern Illinois.
 
THE SERIES VS. WRIGHT STATE: The Raiders hold a 1-0 lead on the all-time series after defeating the Big Red, 3-0, at the National Invitational Volleyball Championships on Dec. 6, 1991.
 
VS. THE HORIZON LEAGUE: Cornell has a 2-5 record all-time vs. the current nine members of the Horizon League.
* The Big Red has a winning record vs. Milwaukee (1-0).
* Cornell has a losing mark vs. Cleveland State (1-2), Oakland (0-2) and Wright State (0-1).
* Cornell has never faced Green Bay, UIC, IUPUI, Northern Kentucky, and Youngstown State.
 
THE SERIES VS. WESTERN ILLINOIS: First meeting.
 
VS. THE SUMMIT LEAGUE: Cornell is 1-1 all-time vs. the current nine members of The Summit League.
* The Big Red has a winning record vs. Omaha (1-0).
* Cornell has a losing mark vs. Denver (0-1).
* The Big Red has never faced North Dakota, North Dakota State, Oral Roberts, Purdue Fort Wayne, South Dakota, South Dakota State, and Western Illinois.  
 
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 (34-44, .435) ... 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.
 
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 and Carla Sganderlla were both named to the Cornell Invitational All-Tournament Team.
* 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: Ivy League play begins on Saturday, Sept. 22 when the Big Red travels to NYC to take on Columbia at 2 p.m. Cornell split the series with the Lions a year ago to improve its commanding lead in the all-time series to 52-14.