VALPARAISO, Ind. – The Big Red volleyball team closed the Crusader Classic with a bang, sweeping Western Illinois in straight sets, 25-20, 25-19, 25-22. With the win, Cornell closes the non-conference season with a 5-5 record.
The Big Red hit .281 for the match and had five different players contribute at least six kills, led by
Carla Sganderlla's 12 kills on the afternoon. Freshman
Madison Baptiste also finished in double-digits with 10 kills and posted the first double-double of her career with 11 digs. Middle blockers
Jada Stackhouse (7-1-12) and
Jenna Phelps (6-0-15) were dominant, combining for 13 kills and a .444 hitting percentage. Rightside hitter
Kara Rogers was also extremely efficient with eight kills and just one error on 19 attempts (.368).
Lily Barber earned All-Tournament honors after posting her second consecutive 20-dig game. The junior libero led a Big Red defense that posted 19 more digs than the Leathernecks (62-43). In addition to Barber and Baptiste,
Katie Randolph also finished with 11 digs.
Randolph and
Zoe Chamness finished with 19 and 16 assists, respectively.
Western Illinois (1-12) had three players finish with eight kills apiece, including Mariah Mitchell, who hit .400 for the match (8-0-20).
Cornell jumped out to a big lead in the first set, doubling up Western Illinois early at 10-5, but the Leathernecks capitalized on three Big Red errors with three Mitchell kills to take a 16-15 lead. A WIU service error and back-to-back kills from Rogers restored the lead to the Big Red. The set would tie once more at 18-18 before Cornell finished on a 5-2 run to take the 25-20 victory.
The second set was a back-and-forth battle with WIU taking a 9-7 lead before the Big Red embarked on a decisive 6-0 run en route to the 25-19 win.
The Leathernecks got out to a 4-0 start in the third set behind the strong serving of Jaime Johnson, but Cornell slowly began to chip away at the lead before using an 8-1 run to turn a 10-8 deficit into a 15-11 lead. From there, the Big Red held on for the 25-22 victory.
Cornell opens Ivy League play 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.
