Being a “rebuilding team” has its ups and downs. On the downside, you’re probably not going to have a record-breaking season if you are still trying to get settled. The upside, though, is that after that first, really tough year, you might just come out and surprise everyone — including yourself. The volleyball team struggled last season and during this year’s preseason as well. But tonight, the Red has a chance to put the past behind it as it takes on Yale, at home, for sole possession of first place in the Ivy League, followed by a match tomorrow afternoon against Brown.

The Red has kept its cool this week, according to senior captain Hilary Holland.

Hitting percentage, like so many other numbers in sports, can be a misleading statistic. It’s calculated by subtracting a player’s errors from her kills, then dividing by the total number of attempts. It emphasizes a player’s efficiency — how often she converts a set into a kill — over her total productivity.

Sometimes, things just seem to fall into place. The volleyball team must be feeling a similar sensation today after returning home this weekend with two more Ivy wins under its belt and tied for first in the Ivy standings. The Red beat Harvard on Friday, 3-2, and defeated Dartmouth the next afternoon, 3-2.

Although both teams put up a good fight against Cornell, the Red came through when it absolutely needed to — bringing the squad to 5-1 against Ancient Eight foes (6-10 overall) after early struggles in the non-conference schedule.

“I think we’re in a good place,” said head coach Deitre Collins-Parker.

A weekend sweep will be good for the Red as they face Yale, also No. 1 in the League, this weekend.

The whirlwind season continues as the volleyball team, fresh off a tough four-set loss to Colgate Tuesday night, hits the road to take on Ivy rivals Harvard and Dartmouth this weekend. The Red will face off against the Crimson tonight at 7 p.m. at the Malkin Athletic Center in Cambridge, Mass., before making the drive to Leede Arena in Hanover, N.H., to tangle with the Green on Dartmouth’s Homecoming weekend.

In Cornell’s (4-10, 3-1 Ivy) last game action, the team fell despite a fast start and 1-0 advantage in sets over Colgate. Ultimately, the Raiders were better able to make adjustments, said Cornell head coach Deitre Collins-Parker.

On Saturday, junior libero Meagan Mushovic recorded 18 digs, bringing her career total to 1,362 digs, breaking the Red’s career record. The record was previously held by fellow libero Kelly Kramer, who played for Cornell from 2002-2005. Kramer, a star libero who helped lead Cornell to the Ivy title in 2005, has held or still holds many of Cornell’s digs-related records, which Mushovic has been steadily overtaking.

Mushovic, a Human Biology, Health and Society major from Coronado, Calif., grabbed headlines as a sophomore, earning the Red’s MVP award after a season in which she averaged 6.16 digs per game, eighth in the nation. Mushovic also broke Cornell’s record for digs in a single season as well as the record for digs per game.

While the rest of the campus was enjoying its rarely-given period of R and R, the volleyball team was out trying to prove that despite its overall record, the Red can beat anyone in the Ivy League. And despite losing to last year’s Ivy champions, the Princeton Tigers on Saturday, 0-3, and Colgate, 1-3, last night, the Red beat Penn, 3-1, and is now 3-1, third in the Ivy standings. Along the way, junior libero Meagan Mushovic broke Cornell’s career dig record, scoring her 1,357th dig against the Tigers, breaking the record set by Kelly Kramer, ’05.

Most Cornellians will probably spend their Fall Breaks catching up on some sleep at home or hanging around Ithaca. The volleyball team will be in the latter group, but the players shouldn’t expect to relax too much — they’re playing three matches in just five days.

The Red (3-8, 2-0 Ivy) will open its action-packed break with home matches against Ivy rivals Penn (4-9, 0-1 Ivy) and Princeton (7-2, 1-0) on Friday and Saturday night, respectively. Cornell will finish up the break with a Tuesday tilt against Colgate (6-10, 2-2 Patriot League).Gotcha!: Senior captain Hilary Holland (center) will lead the team in three matches over Fall Break.

When the volleyball team beat Columbia on Saturday, 3-2, the Lions must have felt some sense of déjà vu after losing to Cornell for the second time in a week.

Unfortunately, Cornell was unable to maintain its momentum going into its match the next day.

Ultimately, the Red ended up splitting its double-header in New York City this weekend, winning the first match against Columbia on Saturday but losing to a stronger Long Island, 1-3, on Sunday, earning everyone a long and exhausting bus ride home last night.

With the win against Columbia (5-6, 0-2 Ivy League), Cornell remains undefeated in the Ivy League at 2-0, 3-8 overall, with both wins having come at the expense of the Lions.

The Red will look to down Ivy rival Columbia for the second time in a week when Cornell rolls into New York City for the second matchup of the Ivy season. Cornell will take on the Lions at 7 p.m. tomorrow, then play a non-conference match against Long Island University on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Cornell (2-7, 1-0 Ivy) won its Ivy opener over the Lions (5-4) in a straight-sets victory at home last Saturday. Although Columbia did not manage to win a game in the match, the battle was more back-and-forth than the score reveals. The Lions held the lead in the first and third games of the match but Cornell was able to rally and take both frames to get off to a good start to the Ivy season.

One must regard 2007 as an anomaly when taking stock of Deitre Collins-Parker’s extensive success at the helm of Cornell volleyball. The head coach was a two-time collegiate player of the year at the University of Hawaii and has led the Red to three Ivy League titles and two national tournament showings in four years.

But after losing 10 seniors from the 2005 and 2006 teams, Collins-Parker faced a tough rebuilding mission in the 2007 season. The team finished with an unimpressive 9-16 record — far off the 18-9 mark set in 2006. There were some bright spots in the season, however. Junior libero Megan Mushovic was named first team all-Ivy and senior middle blocker Emily Borman was named to the second team.

Rebuilding isn’t a new concept to Collins-Parker, however.