This past weekend, volleyball hit the road to face off against Yale and Brown. Despite two hard-fought competitions, including a five set thriller, the Red ultimately dropped both matches.
The team faced a tough opponent on Friday night: the undefeated No.1 Yale team (18-1, 10-0 Ivy). In set one, the Bulldogs dominated the Red, as they took the lead early, never looked back and won 25-17.
In set two, both teams fought neck and neck. Late in the match, trailing 16-13, Cornell scored two consecutive points, reducing the deficit to only 16-15. However, the Bulldogs responded emphatically, scoring the next six points to extend their lead to 22-15. The Red responded with three more points of their own to cut the deficit to 22-18, but it wouldn’t be enough. The Bulldogs would go on to win 25-20.
Cornell looked to avoid the sweep in set three. However, with the Red trailing only 16-14, Yale’s powerful offense scored the next seven out of nine points. This made it 23-16, putting the game virtually out of reach and sealing the sweep for the Bulldogs.
Looking to bounce back in game two against No. 3 Brown (11-8, 7-3 Ivy), Cornell came out strong by winning set one in dominant fashion. With the match still close at 12-10, the Red scored the next four consecutive points, via a kill by senior setter Emma Worthington, an error by Brown and a kill by both freshman outside hitter Eliza Konvicka and junior middle blocker Sydney Moore, to extend their lead to 16-10. Cornell went on to win set one 25-16.
In set two, Cornell once again went on a run to extend their lead and never looked back. With the score knotted at 14 a-piece, the Red scored the next five points, courtesy of two kills by senior outside hitter Joanna Chang, an attack error by Brown, a kill by Moore and a service ace by Worthington. After some back and forth with the Bears, Cornell would hold on to win 25-21.
Up 2-0 in the match, the team only needed one more set win to seal a match victory. However, the tables turned quickly in set three. Brown stormed out of the gates early, taking an early 10-4 lead. Down 14-9, the Bears then scored five consecutive points to extend their lead to a virtually insurmountable 19-9 lead. The Bears would go on to win set three 25-12.
In set four, Brown looked to continue their momentum and force a fifth set. However, at first, it looked like the Red would dominate. Early on, they took an 11-5 lead after a six point run and would go on to extend their lead to 17-11. But the Bears would not go down quietly.
Trailing 19-14 late in the set, Brown scored five consecutive points to come back and tie the score at 19. After two quick kills by freshman outside hitter Nicole Mallus, Cornell retook the lead, but it wouldn’t be enough to hold back Brown’s offense. Brown scored the next six of seven points to secure a narrow 25-22 victory and force a match-deciding set five.
In set five, the Red took an early 4-2 lead, but the Bears struck back immediately, scoring seven unanswered points to bring the score to 9-4. Cornell would score one more point by a kill by Konvicka, but that would be it, as Brown scored the next six points to secure a 15-5 set win and match victory.
Up next, the Red will go on their final road trip of the season to compete against No. 4 Dartmouth (14-6, 6-4 Ivy) and No. 5 Harvard (5-13, 4-6 Ivy). Game one is set for 7 p.m. this Friday, Nov. 4 at Hanover, New Hampshire, with game two scheduled for 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 5 at Cambridge, Massachusetts. Both matches will be streaming on ESPN+.