The volleyball team began its Ivy League campaign this weekend with mixed success, splitting a pair of matches with Columbia. The Red now stands at 9-5 on the year with a 1-1 mark in Ivy play.
In the loosing effort on Friday evening, the Red was guided by senior Jennifer Borncamp and sophomore Debbie Quibell, each of whom recorded 10 kills. Cornell fell in three straight games 30-25, 30-27 and 35-33.
The Red nonetheless doubled the Lions number of blocks having 10 to Columbia’s five. But the hosts out-hit Cornell .222 — .186. Senior Jaimee Reynolds had 33 assists and three aces to guide the Red in the loosing cause.
Columbia (7-4, 1-1) used a balanced arsenal to upend the Red. Julia Topik, Madia Willis, Kathy Lavold and Michelle Mahlke led the way with eight kills.
The Red returned to the friendly confines of Newman Arena for the second half of the home-and-home series on Sunday afternoon.
On its home court, the Red gave Columbia a taste of its own medicine sweeping the Lions.
Cornell turned in its best hitting effort (.351) of the season, behind Borncamp (.500), and sophomore Ashley Stover (.556), a significant improvement from the .186 hitting percentage turned in on Friday evening. Junior Angela Barbera and Quibell contributed to the attack with, 11 and 12 kills, respectively.
The Red continued to edge Columbia in the blocking category 6-0 in Sunday’s contest.
Reynolds continued her outstanding play adding 42 assists.
The Red will visit Princeton on Friday and Pennsylvania on Saturday as it continues the Ivy portion of its schedule.
Archived article by Gary Schueller