MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #4: Cornell vs. Lamar
MATCH TIME: Friday, Sept. 7, 2018; 3:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Athletics/Alumni Center (Houston, Texas)
SERIES RECORD: Lamar leads, 1-0
LAST MEETING: Lamar won, 3-2; Sept. 4, 2010
2018 RECORDS: Cornell (2-1, 0-0 Ivy); Lamar (2-4, 0-0 Southland)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/houston/wvball/
LIVE VIDEO: None
 
MATCH #5: Cornell at Houston
MATCH TIME: Friday, Sept. 7, 2018; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Athletics/Alumni Center (Houston, Texas)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
* 2018 RECORDS: Cornell (2-1, 0-0 Ivy); Houston (8-0, 0-0 AAC)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/houston/wvball/
LIVE VIDEO: https://uhcougars.com/watch/?Live=17&type=Live
 
MATCH #6: Cornell vs. University of Texas San Antonio
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018; 10:30 a.m.
MATCH SITE: Athletics/Alumni Center (Houston, Texas)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
* 2018 RECORDS: Cornell (2-1, 0-0 Ivy); USTA (5-1, 0-0 CUSA)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/houston/wvball/
LIVE VIDEO: None
 
MATCH #7: Cornell vs. Houston Baptist University
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018; 3:30 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Athletics/Alumni Center (Houston, Texas)
SERIES RECORD: First Meeting
LAST MEETING: First Meeting
* 2018 RECORDS: Cornell (2-1, 0-0 Ivy); Houston Baptist (5-3, 0-0 Southland)
LIVE STATS: http://www.sidearmstats.com/houston/wvball/
LIVE VIDEO: None
 
* records prior to Friday afternoon's contest.
 
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
 
THE FLO HYMAN COLLEGIATE CUP: The Big Red volleyball team hits the road this weekend for the University of Houston's Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup. Cornell takes on Lamar on Friday, Sept. 7 at 2 p.m. CST, before it faces the host Cougars at 7 p.m. CST. The Big Red returns the next day to take UTSA (9:30 a.m. CST) and Houston Baptist (2:30 p.m. CST). Live stats will be provided for all four matches at http://www.sidearmstats.com/houston/wvball/, while video stream will be available only for the Big Red's match vs. Houston at https://uhcougars.com/watch/?Live=17&type=Live.
 
HAPPY HOMECOMING: The Big Red roster includes three players from Texas – Paige Becker (Lucas), Madison Baptiste (Austin) and Carla Sganderlla (Houston).
* Carla Sganderlla attended St. Agnes Academy, less than 15 miles from the University of Houston campus.
 
THE SERIES VS. LAMAR: Lamar won the only meeting between the two squads, a 3-2 decision during the 2010 Cornell Invitational.
 
VS. THE SOUTHLAND: Cornell is 0-2 all-time vs. the 13 current members of the Southland Conference.
* The Big Red has a losing record vs. both Lamar (0-1) and Sam Houston State (0-1).
* Cornell has never faced Abilene Christian, Houston Baptist, Incarnate Word, McNeese, New Orleans, Nicholls, Northwestern State, Stephen F. Austin, Southeastern La., or Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
THE SERIES VS. HOUSTON: First meeting.
 
VS. THE AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE: Cornell has a 9-8 record all-time vs. the current 12 members of the AAC.
* The Big Red has a winning record vs. UConn (5-3), and Tulsa (1-0).
* Cornell has a losing mark vs. East Carolina, and Memphis.
* The series with SMU (1-1) and Temple (2-2) are tied.
* Cornell has never faced Central Florida, Cincinnati, Houston, South Florida, Tulane or Wichita State.
 
THE SERIES VS. USTA: First meeting.
 
VS. CONFERENCE USA: Cornell is 2-7 all-time vs. the current 13 members of Conference USA.
* The Big Red has a winning record vs. Florida International (1-0) and Marshall (1-0).
* Cornell has a losing mark vs. Charlotte (0-1), Louisiana Tech (0-1), Rice (0-1), UAB (0-2), and UTEP (0-2).
* The Big Red has never faced Florida Atlantic, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Southern Miss, Texas San Antonio, or Western Kentucky.
 
THE SERIES VS. HOUSTON BAPTIST: First meeting.
 
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 (32-42, .432) ... 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.
 
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: Cornell wraps up the tournament season with a trip to Valparaiso's Crusader Classic on the weekend of Sept. 14-15. The Big Red takes on the host school on Friday at 4 p.m. CST, before coming back the next day to play Wright State (10 a.m.) and Western Illinois (12:30 p.m.).