By wpengine
Forced to leave senior standout Senter Johnson at home due to illness and instead start freshman reserve Stan Feldman, who also became sick by game time, the men’s polo team ended up on the losing side of a 19-15 contest at Skidmore Friday night. Somehow, though, the Red still got the win. “It was a funky situation,” explained polo head coach David Eldredge ’81. Having only two players able to play in the game, Skidmore forfeited to Cornell. But, rather than waste the weekend, the Red still traveled to Skidmore to play an exhibition match with a coach stepping in as the third player for the Thoroughbreds. “It turned into a pretty good situation for us since Senter was sick and then Feldman had to play sick,” commented Eldredge. Illness has plagued the men’s polo team throughout the fall campaign. Beginning with junior starter Nick Grew earlier in the season, and now with the sickness of Johnson and Feldman, Eldredge fears that the trend will continue with senior Jeff Markle, another key player for the team. “Now Markle is due for sickness,” explained Eldredge. “Illness is killing our team.” With only two days remaining until the start of the Cornell-hosted Bill Field Tournament, featuring some of the best teams in the nation, the Red’s chances of winning the event will ride on its ability to get all its players healthy in time. “Our chances are pretty good,” said Eldredge, “as long as we’re healthy.” Though the women’s squad has been able to stay healthy, they have been slightly slowed by injuries. Having hurt her wrist against Skidmore last weekend, senior starter Harriet Antczak was limited to just one half of playing time against the Teabrook Polo Club Saturday night. Nevertheless, the women dominated the second half on their way to an impressive 17-4 victory. However, the score does not actually portray how close the game was. In fact, the Red only led 5-4 at the half, with the one-goal advantage coming on an inadvertent score made on her own goal by one of the Teabrook players. Cornell, though, came out on fire in the second-half, scoring five times in the third chukker, and then adding seven more in the fourth while holding Teabrook scoreless throughout both periods. The game marked the third consecutive victory for the Red where it’s doubled its halftime score in the third chukker. “We got a couple of good bounces, made a few good plays, and really took the wind out of their sails,” commented Eldredge. “[Senior Marisa Bianchi] caught fire at the beginning of the second-half and then [senior Molly Buck] was on fire in the fourth chukker.” Meanwhile, junior substitute Lindsey Scheer got in some quality minutes while she filled in for the injured Antczak during the second half. “Lindsey has played really well of late,” said Eldredge about his first reserve. “She has really gotten into the flow of the games.” Heading into the Field Invitational this week, Eldredge feels confident that his players are ready to deal with some of the best teams in the nation. “We have excellent chances to win the tournament,” commented the coach.Archived article by Scott Reich
By wpengine
So close, yet still so far away. The volleyball team’s four seniors will be without class rings of any sort this year as the Red’s veterans failed to lead the squad to its first Ivy League championship since 1993. Despite sweep victories of both Yale and Brown over the weekend, the Red didn’t get the help it needed elsewhere in the league as Penn also won matches against Dartmouth and Harvard, clinching at least a share of the league title with Princeton. Although the Red has plenty to be cheerful about statistically and in the record books — the team’s final 21-4 record was the most wins by a Cornell squad since 1989 — the ending itself was all too bittersweet. “It was a very strange feeling ending the last night of the season on the road,” head coach Christie Roes said. “The seniors and I were asking each other, ‘What do we do now?’ But the season overall was great. I’m so proud of the girls and all of the hard work they put in.” The Red’s final two victories were typical of a squad that found itself dominating any number of matches throughout the year, a consistent balance of offense and defense brought together by a superior team attitude. On Friday night, the Red simply pounded a Bulldog defensive unit that looked like only a shadow of the team that had battled Cornell through five tough games at the teams’ first meeting. Freshman outside hitter Elizabeth Bishop, one of many success stories for the Red this season, notched her 15th double-double of the year by adding a match-high 14 kills and 10 digs in the 30-25, 30-27, 30-21 sweep win. Senior middle blockers Ashely Stover and Jamie Lugo both tallied 13 kills — a season high for Lugo — as the Red trounced the Bulldogs in almost every conceivable way, recording more kills (53-43), digs (54-50), and blocks (12-4). “I was happy we all performed well in the last matches,” Lugo said. “Everybody played well and we had a lot of fun.” Lugo and the rest of the Red finished the season strong Saturday at Brown, icing the Bears 3-0 (30-23, 30-24, 30-26). As predicted, the final match turned out to be a record-setting day for Roe’s first recruiting class, with Stover finally smashing the Cornell record for career blocks with 406, surpassing the previous total of 404 set by Becky Merchant ’89. Lugo also cemented herself as the Red’s all-time leader in blocks per game (1.24) with five against the Bears. Sophomore libero Kelly Kramer also refused to be left out, registering 11 digs in her final match to raise her season average to 4.18 digs per game, good enough for first in the Cornell record books. Yet according to Roes, the records were not just the result of individual achievement, but came from an entire team effort. “Those records are a result of the support group behind those people,” Roes stated. “Every player was so team-oriented and positive; I never once heard anything from the players who weren’t playing as much. We just worked so hard every day and stepped it up on the court.” For the first time since her tenure began at Cornell, Roes will be saying goodbye to seniors she has coached since they came in as freshmen. Lugo, Stover, outside hitter and multiple record holder Debbie Quibell, and setter Rachel Rice have all played their final matches in a Red uniform, and will be deeply missed by the team next season. In the last four years, the Red has compiled a 72-34 overall record and four straight winning seasons. “The seniors have truly built this program to where it is today,” Roes said. “When I first came here, we didn’t have the athletes or the attitude to be successful. Now, [Cornell] can count on volleyball to have a winning season year in and year out. I’m really proud of that.” Yet, for at least Lugo, volleyball will not be simply a memory of the past. The Long Beach, Calif. native will spend the winter training for a stint with Las Gigantes de Carolina of the Federaci