The volleyball team’s dichotomous nature returned again this past weekend as Cornell split its conference matchups for the third week in a row. In what can be summed up as a tale of two teams, the Red (12-7, 5-3 Ivy) triumphed over Brown (7-12, 3-4) 3-1 on Friday only to fall the next day to Yale (9-8, 3-4) 0-3.
With the split, Cornell remains in sole possession of third place in the Ivy League, one win behind Penn (15-4, 6-1) and two behind Harvard (11-8, 7-1) with six league games remaining in the season.
The Red opened up Friday’s match with a loss in its first game to the Bears, 27-30. The squad quickly rebounded after the first loss to win the next three games, 30-25, 30-26 and 30-26.
Junior Debbie Quibell had one of her best games of the season, notching a season high 25 kills to go along with 15 digs and three blocks. It was her eighth consecutive double-double this season. Fellow outside hitter senior Angela Barbera also had an impressive evening with 14 kills and 12 digs, as did junior blocker Ashley Stover, who registered 11 kills and six blocks. Junior setter Rachel Rice directed the offensive effort with 50 assists.
Overall, Cornell had a combined .222 hitting percentage while the defense held the Bears to a .123 hitting percentage and gained the advantage in blocks 13-7.
Junior blocker Jamie Lugo shared the lead in blocks with Stover while freshmen Heather Young and Harley Grieve had four and two, respectively.
Sophomore Kathryn Conrad came off the bench to record 15 digs to tie Quibell for the match.
“Against Brown each person stepped it up and helped one another out,” said Rice. “We had a lot of enthusiasm and stayed in our system.”
The Yale game was a different story for the Red. After a close first game, Cornell collapsed both offensively and defensively in the next two games to fall the Bulldogs 20-30 and 20-30. Yale’s explosive offense, which hit .303 for the match, was led by Renee Lopez who amassed 18 kills and a monstrous .640 hitting percentage.
The Bulldogs also had notable performance from Taryn Gallup who had 12 kills and seven digs, Jana Freeman with nine kills and eight digs, and Jacqueline Becker, who had 39 assists, 10 digs and five kills in directing the offense.
“Against Yale our energy was different on the court. We didn’t show up to play. We didn’t do the little things, we had control some control but then we lost it,” commented Rice.
Stover and Lugo lead a deflated offense for the Red. Stover recorded 10 kills and four blocks while Lugo added nine kills and three blocks.
Cornell’s offense from the outside, which was explosive against Brown, was quiet for most of the day as Quibell and Barbera recorded only 15 kills and combined on .016 hitting.
In the backcourt, Rice had 37 assists for the afternoon while Conrad added 11 digs.
Cornell will return to action tomorrow as it faces the Red Raiders of Colgate in its last non-conference match of the season.
Archived article by Chris Callanan