Head coach Deitre Collins-Parker didn’t have any complex strategic advice or passionate speeches for the volleyball team when it seemed on its way to an upset loss to Harvard in the last match of the season. She asked a simple question, and the team — which had dropped the third and fourth sets to Harvard after winning the first two — responded.

“I asked them one thing: if they wanted to win,” Collins-Parker said. “If you want to win it, you’ve got to get it done. It wasn’t any magic words.”

With a 7-5 league record, the Ancient Eight title is officially out of reach for the volleyball team. Yale is atop the standings with an 11-1 Ivy record, followed by Princeton at 10-1 and Penn at 8-3.

But while the top spot is no longer on the line, the Red still has two more matches to play — against Dartmouth today at 7 p.m. and Harvard tomorrow at 4 p.m.

Serve's up: Freshman Risa Ka’awa (1) serves against Brown during the Red’s 3-1 victory on Oct. 26. Ka’awa and the other underclassmen will be playing with their senior leaders for the last time this weekend.

The Red defeated both teams earlier this season in close 3-2 matches.

Every graduating class is special — any coach will tell you that. But sometimes a class comes along that, for whatever reason, really does stand out in a coach’s mind.

For volleyball head coach Deitre Collins-Parker, the seniors of 2008-09 are just such a group: captain Hilary Holland, Emily Borman and Kathryn Woodbury remain of the original fab five. (Jessica Misse will stay with the Red for another year, and Lia Gaetano no longer plays volleyball for Cornell). They were Collins-Parker’s first — the first class she recruited, the first class she will see graduate after a full, four-year cycle. Their departure will be full of memories both amazing and bittersweet.

In what were nearly mirror image performances, Cornell defeated Brown on Friday night, 3-1, but was Sweet successdefeated by Yale the next night, 3-0. The Red is now 8-15 overall, 7-5 in the Ivy League and securely in fourth place in the league, behind Yale, Princeton and Penn, with two matches remaining in the season.

The Red beat the Bears (12-12, 4-8 Ivy) the first time it faced them, 3-1, but head coach Deitre Collins-Parker said the team was careful not to let its guard down against the always-dangerous club.

“They are always frustrating,” she said. “Frustrating because they are unorthodox.”

Collins-Parker said it’s hard to explain what it is that makes the Bears so unpredictable.

It’s hard to imagine that the volleyball team is in good spirits — not only did the Red drop two matches last weekend to fall to No. 4 in the Ivy standings, they’re also heading right back on the road this weekend to face Brown today and first-place Yale tomorrow. But head coach Deitre Collins-Parker and the rest of the team was so buoyed by their play in the five-set loss to Penn on Saturday that the confidence is flowing — even as they’re about to take on a Bulldog squad that handed the Red a resounding 25-16, 25-12, 25-13 defeat just two weeks ago.

To have something so close and then have to watch it slip away is often harder than if you had never hoped to be able to achieve it in the first place. The volleyball team came very close to defeating a strong Penn team this weekend, but despite stellar play that was at times spectacular, the Red couldn’t come up with the big plays when it needed them most, falling in the fifth set, 3-2. Cornell also competed against Princeton, but was outplayed by a balanced Tiger defense and attack that refused to let Cornell steal a set, supported by a boisterously supportive home crowd.

Coming off a disappointing midweek loss to Binghamton on Tuesday, the volleyball team is eager to return to Ancient Eight play and its more familiar, although not less formidable, foes. The Red will hit the road this weekend to take on current Ivy runners-up Princeton at 7 p.m. today followed by a 4 p.m. tilt with Penn tomorrow.

Not even the blistering cold winds could cool off the fiery Binghamton attack last night at Newman Arena as the Bearcats dropped Cornell, 25-17, 25-23, 25-19. Binghamton has been victorious in seven of its last eight matches, and was led by sophomore hitter Michelle McDonough, who recorded 17 kills, eight digs and four blocks.

“I thought [Binghamton] ran a pretty fast offense and they really [handled] our blocks,” said head coach Deitre Collins-Parker. “That really hurt us because blocking is something that we used to do pretty well. As a coach, I need to make some changes [starting with] our blocking scheme. It’s been a trend over the last couple of games and one of the assistant coaches brought it to my attention that maybe what we’re doing doesn’t work well for us.”

The midweek matchup can be a very important tool for teams trying to get ahead in the middle of conference play — an opportunity to compete without having to worry about any far-reaching consequences. Cornell’s volleyball team is hoping that today’s match against regional rival Binghamton will keep them sharp and give them the edge they will need as they stare down back-to-back doubleheaders in the next two weeks. The Red will be on the road for the next two weekends, battling four straight Ivy League foes.Hands up, eyes closed: Freshman Meagan Tatum (8) goes for the block in the Red’s 3-2 loss to Robert Morris.

Judging by the level of play and results, it was almost as if two different teams were representing Cornell in Newman Arena over the weekend. On Friday, the volleyball team was thoroughly outplayed by a dominant Yale squad, 25-16, 25-12, 25-13. The next day, the Red showed some jitters early on, but rebounded quickly to take a close match from Brown, 18-25, 25-21, 27-25, 25-23.

The Bulldogs (13-4, 7-1 Ivy League) sit atop the Ivy standings and proved their worth with a one-sided win over Cornell (7-11, 6-2 Ivy). The Bulldogs sported a well-balanced attack — six players finished with more than five kills. Laurel Johnson led Yale’s attack with nine kills and Alexis Crusey and Cat Dailey finished with eight. Ally Mendenhall totaled 37 assists for the Bulldogs.