MATCH INFORMATION
MATCH #21: Cornell at Brown
MATCH TIME: Friday, Nov. 8, 2013; 7:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Pizzitola Sports Center (Providence, R.I.)
SERIES RECORD: Cornel leads, 38-21
LAST MEETING: Brown, 3-1; Oct. 19, 2013 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (7-13, 3-7 Ivy); Brown (9-12, 5-5 Ivy)
Live Stats: http://livestats.prestosports.com/brown/
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/

MATCH #22: Cornell at Yale
MATCH TIME: Saturday, Nov. 9, 2013; 5:00 p.m.
MATCH SITE: Payne Whitney Gymnasium (New Haven, Conn.)
SERIES RECORD: Yale leads, 35-25
LAST MEETING: Yale, 3-0; Oct. 18, 2013 (Ithaca, N.Y.)
2013 RECORDS: Cornell (7-13, 3-7 Ivy); Yale (15-4, 9-1 Ivy)*
Live Stats: http://livestats.prestosports.com/yale/
Live Video: http://www.ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com/

* - Records prior to contests on Nov. 8

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Big Red volleyball team will look to rebound from last weekend's pair of losses when it travels to New England for contests at Brown and Yale. Cornell will face the Bears on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m., before taking on the Bulldogs on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 5 p.m. The Big Red lost to both squads in Ithaca back in mid-October, falling to Brown in four sets and getting swept by Yale.

THE SERIES VS. BROWN: Cornell's series with Brown began in the 1976 season and the Big Red has dominated from the beginning, winning the first seven meetings before falling to the Bears for the first time in 1984. Cornell owns a 38-21 record in the all-time series, winning 18 of the last 26 meetings. The Bears got the best of the Big Red, however, earlier this season improving to five victories in the last 11 attempts against Cornell.

SCOUTING THE BEARS: Brown sits at fourth place in the Ivy League standings after sweeping Dartmouth last weekend to improve to .500 in conference play and 9-12 overall. The Bears are led by Thea Derrough's .300 hitting percentage, while Maddie Lord has a team-best 2.60 kills per set. Lord also averages 0.38 service aces per set, ranking her fourth in the Ivy League. A pair of Brown players – Kathryn Conner (fourth – 3.59) and Alexandra Rieckhoff (seventh – 3.23) – rank in the top 10 in the conference for digs per set.

LAST TIME VS. BROWN: The Big Red came up just short, falling to Brown, 3-1 in mid-October, in a contest where all four sets were closely contested with the Bears winning each but the third. Cornell received an outstanding performance from Macey Wilson, who posted a .364 hitting percentage with 11 kills and just three errors on 22 attempts to go along with nine block assists. Breanna Wong was the only other Big Red player to hit in double-figures, with a match-high 17 kills, while Rachel D'Epagnier finished with nine. Wong also had 11 digs, while D'Epagnier posted eight total blocks (four solo). Libero Natasha Rowland had a match-high 23 digs. The Bears were led by Amanda Nickel's 13 kills, while Thea Derrough and Maddie Lord tallied 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Both of the Bears' setters, Sarah Lucenti and Rachele Killian, finished with 20 assists, with Lucenti chipping in 12 digs. Four Brown players recorded double-digit digs in the victory.

THE SERIES VS. YALE: Cornell and Yale first met in 1976, a 2-0 Bulldog victory. Yale went on to win the next four contests before the Big Red earned its first win in the series during the 1981 campaign. The Bulldogs have won the past 11 meetings, taking the lead in the all-time series, 35-25.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Yale has lost just once in Ivy League play during the 2013 season. Not surprisingly, the Bulldogs lead the conference in every recorded statistical category, aside from Cornell's first place standing in blocks. Additionally, Jess Ebner leads the Ivy League in hitting percentage (.422), and is one of three Bulldogs, joining McHaney Carter and Kelly Johnson, to rank in the conference's top 10 in hitting percentage. Mollie Rogers ranks fifth in the league, averaging 2.88 kills per set. Kendall Polan ranks second in the conference in both assists and service aces. Leading the defensive effort, Maddie Rudnick averages 4.63 digs per set, ranking her second in the Ivy League.

LAST TIME VS. YALE: The Yale volleyball team ran its Ivy League winning streak to 20 games in the Oct. 19 sweep of Cornell at Newman Arena. Cornell was led by sophomore Breanna Wong with 10 kills and a .226 hitting percentage, while freshman Grayce Campbell had a team-high .294 hitting percentage. Senior middle Rachel D'Epagnier continued her dominance at the net with a game-high seven blocks (two solo, five assists), while freshman Alyssa Phelps finished with four blocks, 22 assists and six digs. The Bulldogs had a trio of hitters in double-figures – Kelly Johnson (12), Mollie Rogers (11) and Brittani Steinberg (11), with Steinberg registering an impressive .500 hitting percentage. As a team, Yale hit .234 for the match, including a match-best .333 hitting percentage in the first set. Setter Kendall Polan handed out 32 assists and posted 11 digs, while libero Maddie Rudnick had a match-high 16 digs. The Bulldogs were dominant in the first two sets and managed to squeak out the third set with a three-point victory.

THE HEAD COACH: Cornell head coach Melissa Batie-Smoose is in her second season at Cornell (16-29, .356) ... Batie-Smoose became the 10th coach in Cornell volleyball history in April 2012 ... She has a 103-91 (.531) record as a head coach, including a mark of 81-43 (.653) at Savannah College of Art & Design.

DIG IT: Junior libero Natasha Rowland entered the week ranked first in the Ivy League and ranked 24th in the nation in digs per set (5.11) … She posted a career-high 36 digs vs. Columbia on Sept. 28, a mark that is seventh best all-time in Cornell history for digs in a match. Altogether, Rowland has posted five of the top 20 performances in Cornell history, ranking 14th with her 34 digs vs. Rutgers, as well as against Columbia (Oct. 26), 16th with her 33 digs vs. LIU Brooklyn and 18th with her 32 digs against Princeton (Oct. 22).

MOVING ON UP: Junior libero Natasha Rowland moved into sixth place in Cornell history with 37 digs last the weekend, tallying 434 on the season. She will move up the leader board again with 22 more digs this weekend. The school record is held by Megan Mushovic, who registered 598 digs during the 2007 season … With her

100 WINS: Coach Melissa Batie-Smoose notched the 100th victory of her coaching career in the Ivy League opener against Columbia.

ON THE BLOCK: Senior Rachel D'Epagnier is steadily moving up the Cornell all-time list for career blocks. She currently ranks fifth overall in block assists (253) and needs 10 more to move past Joanna Weiss (fourth – 262). She is sixth overall in total blocks (313), and is 10th in block solos (60), needing nine more to move into a ninth place tie with Erika Migliore (69).

IN THE RANKINGS: Several Cornell players are raked in the top 10 of various Ivy League statistical categories, including:
*Breanna Wong – fourth in kills per set (3.21)
*Alyssa Phelps – first in assists per set (9.09)
*Sierra Young – sixth in service aces per set (0.33)
*Rachel D'Epagnier – first in blocks per set (1.15)
*Macey Wilson – third in blocks per set (1.05)
*Natasha Rowland - first in digs per set (5.11)
*Breanna Wong - fifth in points per set (3.42)

THE BIG BLOCKER: Sept. 7 was a big day for freshman Macey Wilson. The middle blocker had back-to-back games in which she posted a career-high nine block assists. With her nine blocks vs. Iona, she placed ninth in Cornell history for blocks in a four-set match, while her nine stops against Bucknell is good for 15th place in Big Red history for blocks in a five-set match.

FAST START: The Big Red's 2-1 start to the Ivy League season was its best since the 2008 team opened the year 3-0 before falling to Princeton.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK: For the first time in her young career, Breanna Wong has been named the Ivy League Player of the Week. It is the first conference weekly award earned by Wong, who becomes the Big Red's first Player of the Week selection since Rachel D'Epagnier earned the honor in the final week of the 2012 season. Wong lead the Big Red with 3.64 kills per set while hitting .301 in the Blackbird Invitational. She was particularly impressive in Cornell's victory over Fairfield, posting a team-high 12 kills (4.0 per set) and hitting .450.

ALL-TOURANMENT TEAM:
*Rachel D'Epagnier and Breanna Wong were both named to the Cornell Invitational All-Tournament Team.
*Breanna Wong was named to the Blackbird Invitational All-Tournament Team after leading the Big Red to a 1-2 record on the weekend including a sweep and a heart-breaking loss.
*Rachel D'Epagnier and Breanna Wong were both named to the Panther Invitational All-Tournament Team.

UP NEXT: The Big Red will conclude the 2013 season with a weekend home stand against Ivy League foes, Dartmouth (Friday, Nov. 15, 7:00 p.m.) and Harvard (Saturday, Nov. 16, 5:00 p.m.) at Newman Arena.