ITHACA, N.Y. – After a 1-1 split on the road, Cornell volleyball returns home this weekend, welcoming Columbia to Newman Arena for Ivy League action.

Game Info
SITE: Newman Arena at Bartels Hall – Ithaca, N.Y.
DATE and TIME: Saturday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m.
RECORDS: Cornell (5-11, 3-4 Ivy League), Columbia (2-14, 0-7 Ivy League)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 60-15
BROADCAST: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: cornellbigred.com

Week in Review
The Big Red is coming off a split on its road trip to Philadelphia and Princeton against the Quakers and Tigers this past weekend. Cornell downed Penn on Friday in four sets before falling to Princeton in four on Saturday.

Friday's match was the highlight of the weekend for Cornell, as it put together a 9-0 run after being down 17-24 to steal the first set against the Quakers. Freshman Sarita Pomar had three aces in the opener to help spark the Big Red run. But after Penn took the second set 25-23, the Big Red saved its best for last, recording 26 kills and a .401 hitting percentage over the final two sets combined to leave with its first win in the Palestra since 2019. Cornell also had 16 blocks in the match, making it the first time Cornell has recorded 15 or more in an Ivy League game since a four-set win over Harvard on Sept. 28, 2018.

Saturday's match started like Friday's against Penn, as both the Big Red and Tigers split the opening two sets. The Tigers would grasp momentum late in the third set, finishing on a 5-0 run to win 25-20. Cornell hung around early in the final frame, but Princeton took the magic halfway through and never looked back to win the match. The Big Red struggled in the third and fourth sets with 15 attack errors and a .093 hitting percentage, compared to six and a .326 attack percentage for the Tigers. 

Sophomore Eliza Konvicka had another outstanding weekend, recording 35 kills, 16 digs, and 11 total blocks for Cornell. Eight blocks on Friday against Penn were also a new career-high for the Houston, Texas native, beating her previous high of six set in a match against Brown on Oct. 29, 2022.

Nicole Mallus also had a strong showing against the Quakers and Tigers, netting 22 kills, six digs, and five total blocks. Three individual milestones were also hit on the weekend, as Camryn Carlo notched a new career high in kills (103), freshman libero Sarita Pomar hit her 200th career dig, and Doga Ozalp handed out her 500th assist on the season during Friday's win over Penn.

Matchup History

• Saturday's match will be the 76th meeting all-time between the Big Red and the Lions.
• Cornell has been dominant at home against the Lions, boasting a 31-3 record. Its 31 wins are the most it has against an Ivy League opponent inside Newman Arena in program history. The red and white has also won six consecutive home matches against the Lions, with its last loss coming in four sets on Sept. 26, 2015.
• Despite the lopsided record, the Big Red and the Lions have played some instant classics in recent memory, as five of the last ten matches in Ithaca have gone five sets. Cornell is 4-1 in those matches.
• The Big Red has also had 50 or more recorded kills in six of its last ten matches against Columbia, including 63 in a five-set victory on Oct. 23, 2021. 

Matchup Flashback: Big Red Tames Lions in Four 
Cornell and Columbia matched up on Sept. 23 in Levien Gymnasium, with the Big Red taking the match 3-1 (25-19, 21-25, 25-21, 25-20). Sophomore Nicole Mallus paced Cornell with a career-high 17 kills, and Eliza Konvicka had 15 kills, three aces, and three blocks in the victory.

Camryn Carlo also had seven kills and a match-high five blocks, and senior Sydney Moore had three kills, three blocks, and a team-high .600 hitting percentage for Cornell, who extended its winning streak over the Lions to four consecutive matches and nine out of its last 11. Logan Harlock and Eva Atkins had ten kills in the loss for Columbia, who dropped to 15-60 overall since the team's first matchup on Sept 17, 1977.

Cornell had its second-best hitting percentage of the season (.295) in the match and held the Lions to a .033 during the fourth set in the victory. The Big Red attack also shined in the fourth set to shut down any comeback attempt by the Lions, recording 16 kills and a match-high .429 hitting percentage. 

Scouting Report

• Columbia rolls into Saturday's match looking to stop the bleeding, as it is on a ten-match winless streak after losing in straight sets on Friday to Princeton and falling in four to Penn on Saturday.
• Sophomore Eva Atkins led the attack for the Lions on the weekend with 18 kills, two blocks, and a .263 hitting percentage. The Seattle, Wash. product has also bested her 94 career kills last season with 121 in 2023.
• Setter Ruby van der Heide had 33 assists in the two matches for the Lions. The sophomore leads the team with 269 handed out on the year.
• Soah Franklin and Juliana Williams each had six blocks for the Lions against Princeton and Penn. Franklin is Columbia's leader and seventh in the Ivy with 57.0 blocks in 2023.
• The Lions have allowed its Ivy League opponents to have a field day on the attack, sitting last in opponent hitting percentage (.282) and sixth in opponent kills/set (12.48).
• Columbia's offensive attack has also struggled in Ivy League play, as it sits eighth in kills/set (10.00) and hitting percentage (.122).
• One area the Lions have avoided in 2023 is long rallies, as it comes into the weekend giving up 12.20 digs/set in conference play, slated second behind Cornell (11.96)

Up Next
After Saturday's match, Cornell will hit the road for a weekend of Ivy League action. The Big Red travels to Massachusetts to face Harvard on Friday, Oct. 27 at 7:00 p.m. before heading north to face Dartmouth on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 5:00 p.m. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.