This weekend, the volleyball team (12-3, 3-2 Ivy) made it through a trip to New York unscathed: After dispatching Columbia (2-12, 0-5 Ivy) 3-0 on Friday night, the Bears traveled up to Ithaca to play Cornell (4-10, 2-3 Ivy) on Saturday afternoon. In a tight 3-2 match, Brown came out on top 15-13 in the final set.
Coming off their first Ivy victory of the year over Penn at home the previous weekend, Brown went to New York City and breezed past Columbia in three sets to open the road trip.
“Traveling to far schools (and) playing in different atmospheres and gyms is always a challenge,” Cierra Jenkins ’24 wrote in a message to The Herald via Brown Athletics. “We did a great job finding rhythm very early in the Columbia match, from being smart with our offensive decisions to expecting scrappy plays that allowed us to hustle during chaotic moments.”
After jumping out to a 7-1 lead to open the first set, Bruno never looked back. A Columbia error and two kills by Beau Vanderlaan ’25 closed out the set 25-14. Brown continued dominating, winning nine of ten points in the middle of the second set to once again win by a score 25-14. Two aces by Victoria Vo ’25 capped off the third set and a third consecutive 25-14 victory for Bruno. Brown hit .359 for the match and improved their hitting percentage throughout the contest, peaking at .474 in the third set. A balanced attack led by nine kills for Vanderlaan, eight for Kate Sheire ’24 and six for Maria Sidorova ’26 proved key in Brown’s decisive victory over the Lions.
The next day, Brown traveled upstate to take on the Big Red in Ithaca.
Saturday’s “match against Cornell was definitely a thrilling and intense experience,” Jenkins wrote. “Cornell played a great match and really challenged us to start playing along the edge.”
The Bears got off to a slow start, trailing the Big Red 15-10 in the opening set. But a 5-0 run to tie it up was punctuated by kills from Vanderlaan, Sheire and Kayla Griebl ’25. The set remained close until, tied at 20, Brown won five of the next six points to snatch a win.
After dropping the second set 25-18, Bruno responded at the start of the third by racing out to a 7-1 advantage. The Bears were able to maintain this advantage, holding off a Cornell squad that won six straight points when down 23-11.
After Brown won the third set 25-17, Cornell roared back to life. Capturing an early lead, the Big Red were able to take the fourth set 25-14 to set up a decisive fifth set.
In the tiebreaking set played to 15 points, Cornell took a 7-5 lead. After a back-and-forth battle, a kill by Gabby Derrick ’25 tied the score at 13. Brown was able to force two errors from Cornell to close out the match and secure the victory.
“It felt like our team played a bit inconsistently. Throughout the second and fourth set, it felt like we were timid and didn’t go after it like we usually do,” Jessie Golden ’26 wrote in a message to The Herald via Brown Athletics. “However, in the fifth set, we were all fired up, especially toward the end.”
Jenkins and Golden each made key contributions that helped keep Brown in the match: Jenkins filled up the stat sheet with 37 assists, 10 digs and eight kills, while Golden totaled 26 digs.
“The block makes my job easy — when they are set up well, it makes reading the hitters much easier, and getting digs comes more naturally,” Golden wrote. “I always try to pursue for my team because I know they'll have my back if I get a touch.”
In what was essentially a dead-even match, these individual contributions, especially in pivotal moments, proved to be the difference. The Bears hit .215 to Cornell’s .214. Each team had an equal number of kills (56) and aces (eight). Brown had 4 more digs (62-58) but had five fewer assists (46-51) and one fewer block (8-9) than Cornell.
“This weekend was a huge opportunity for us to learn more about our strengths and what we need to work on,” Jenkins wrote. “We left New York feeling very proud and excited to get back into the gym to play the sport we do best.”
“Friday night was a very clean match for us (and) we controlled the tempo both offensively and defensively all night. Saturday was a bit more of a battle, (but) we ultimately earned ourselves an opportunity to play a fifth set, and we took advantage of that,” Head Coach Taylor Virtue wrote in a message to The Herald via Brown Athletics. “Overall, the team played well, and we will continue to shore up the areas we need to improve.”
Brown will continue Ivy League play this weekend at home at the Pizzitola Sports Center against Dartmouth (6-8, 3-2 Ivy) on Friday and Harvard (11-3, 4-1 Ivy) on Saturday.
