ITHACA, N.Y. — The Cornell volleyball team clinched its third straight Ivy League Tournament berth with a 25-16, 25-18, 25-27, 25-19 win over Penn on Halloween night at Newman Arena.
The Big Red (13-6, 9-1 Ivy League) also moved into sole possession of first place in the conference standings, after Yale fell to Harvard in five sets and dropped to 8-2.
"I think we had moments of playing our kind of volleyball," head coach Trudy Vande Berg said. "It wasn't a pretty match, but I'll take an ugly win over a pretty loss every day."
Stat lines that made the difference include Cornell outhitting Penn .218 to .034 and won the blocking battle 17.5 to 4.5. Penn also committed 35 attack errors.
Top Performers
Senior Jaida Sione led the Big Red with 15 kills, her best performance of the season so far and tying her career best from 2024. Senior Ava Bogan had 11 kills on .400 hitting and 11 blocks. Junior Mackenzie Parsons added seven kills and eight blocks, and sophomore Sydney Zanca had eight kills and seven blocks. Freshman Nevaeh Tien handed out 34 assists and added 12 digs and two aces. Senior Sara Pomar and freshman Kiran Rio had 12 digs each, and junior Haley Clark added 10.
Match Breakdown
Set 1: Cornell 25, Penn 16
Cornell scored the first five points and never trailed in a 25-16 first set. The Big Red hit .256 with 12 kills and held Penn to -.021 hitting with six blocks. Bogan was in on five of those blocks, and Sione led the way with four kills. A 4-0 run pushed the lead to 21-13.
Set 2: Cornell 25, Penn 18
Penn opened the second set with a 2-0 lead before Cornell answered with five straight points and never trailed again. The Big Red hit .280 with nine kills, got aces from Parsons, Clark and Pomar, and held Penn to -.073 hitting. Sione again had four kills. Penn served five aces in the set and got within 19-18, but Cornell closed on a 6-0 run, with Holdsworth serving the last five points, to win 25-18.
Set 3: Penn 27, Cornell 25
The third set had 11 ties and seven lead changes. Cornell hit just .021, with 10 kills and nine errors. Sione had four kills and Bogan three, and Parsons was in on three blocks. The Big Red scored five straight points with Pomar serving to turn a 17-15 deficit into a 20-17 lead and later had set point at 24-23, but Penn rallied to win 27-25.
"They dig a ton of balls, and we know that," Vande Berg said. "We're a team that just wants to overpower people, so we got frustrated, especially in that third set, not being able to put the ball down. We just kept hitting the same ball over and over again, and they just kept digging it."
Set 4: Cornell 25, Penn 19
Cornell adjusted in the fourth set by varying its shots and changing its attack angles. The Big Red hit .433 with 15 kills and two errors, and they never trailed after a 1-1 tie. Zanca and Bogan had four kills each, and Parsons added three kills and two blocks. Cornell built a 20-12 lead before Penn scored six of the next seven points to get within 21-18. The Big Red then won four of the last five points. Zanca had a kill and teamed with Bogan on a block for match point, and a Penn attack error ended it.
"In the fourth set, you could see we started to change things up," Vande Berg said. "I was really excited to see that adjustment."
Cornell built a 20-12 lead before Penn answered with six of the next seven points to get within 21-18. The Big Red pulled away for good after that. Zanca had a kill to make it 23-19, then teamed with Bogan on a block for match point, and a Penn attack error ended the match.
Cornell Stat Leaders
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Kills: Jaida Sione (Sr.), 15
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Hitting percentage: Ava Bogan (Sr.), .400 (11 kills, 1 error, 25 attempts)
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Blocks: Ava Bogan (Sr.), 10 (2 solo, 8 assisted)
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Assists: Nevaeh Tien (Fr.), 34
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Digs: Sara Pomar (Sr.), Kiran Rio (Fr.) and Nevaeh Tien (Fr.), 12 each
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Aces: Nevaeh Tien (Fr.), 2
UP NEXT
Cornell returns to Newman Arena next weekend for two more Ivy League matches. The Big Red host second-place Yale at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 6, and Brown at 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7. Both matches will stream live on ESPN+.
