Volleyball Travels To Cornell and Columbia for Weekend Matches

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown volleyball returns to action this weekend with road matches at Cornell and Columbia. The Bears will take on Cornell on Friday (Oct. 10) at 7 p.m. and Columbia on Saturday (Oct. 11) at 5 p.m.

Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.

GAME LINKS
Friday, Oct. 10
at Cornell | 7 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats

Saturday, Oct. 11
at Columbia | 6 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats

THE FIRST SERVE

Brown is coming off an impressive weekend with wins at both Princeton and Penn. The Bears swept the Tigers at Princeton for the first time in program history. The win at Penn was a five-set victory that was the first reverse sweep for Brown under head coach Taylor Virtue (0-20 when down 0-2 before). Brown's last reverse sweep came against Texas A&M Corpus Christi back in the 2022 season.
The Bears now shift their focus to a Cornell team that remains the lone undefeated team in Ivy League play. The Big Red and the Bears split the meetings last season with both teams winning on the road but Brown has won seven of the last eight contests overall.
Brown is on a 11-match winning streak against Columbia and have not dropped a set against the Lions in the last four meetings.
Julia Kakkis reached 1,000 career assists in the win over Penn. Kakkis reached the milestone in her 33rd-career game, becoming the fastest Bear to reach 1,000 career assists since Kristen Sellers did so in her 32nd-career game in 2019.

LEADING THE BEARS

Sophia Wolfson is doing it all for the Bears as the sophomore is leading the team in hitting percentage (.371) and blocks per set (1.40), while sitting second on the team in kills per set (2.91). Wolfson has posted double-digit kills in each of her last five matches.
Mariia Sidorova leads Brown's offense with 3.23 kills per set, including 11 at Penn the last time Brown was on the court.
Jessie Golden is holding down Brown's defense with a team-best 4.59 digs per set. Golden has finished with 20 or more digs in three of her last four matches and in five matches this season.
Julia Kakkis is guiding Brown's offense with 9.49 assists per set and has finished with at least 30 assists in each of her last five matches, reaching the 40-assist mark in two of those matches, including 44 against Penn.

SCOUTING CORNELL

Cornell is 8-5 and is the last unbeaten team in Ivy League play with a 3-0 record after beating Harvard and Dartmouth last weekend. The Big Red have yet to drop a set in Ivy League play and have only lost one set in their last four matches.
Eliza Konvicka leads Cornell with 3.95 kills per set. Mackenzie Parsons is second on the team with 2.44 kills per set and is extremely efficient, hitting .453 on the season, tops in the Ivy League and sixth in the NCAA.
The Big Red's defense is leading the Ivy League in opponent hitting percentage holding their opponents to .201 hitting this season.

SCOUTING COLUMBIA

Columbia is 2-11 overall and 0-3 in Ivy League play. The Lions will take on Yale on Friday before facing off against the Bears on Saturday. Columbia has lost all six home matches this season and has been swept in five-straight contests.
The Lions are hitting just .198 on the season and allowing opponents to hit .240.
Elena Maynulet leads Columbia with 3.02 kills per set. Maria Happ leads the defense at the net with 1.00 blocks per set.

WEEKLY HONORS

Sophia Wolfson was named Ivy League Player of the Week on Oct. 6 after her performances against Princeton and Penn. Guiding Brown to a 2-0 weekend. Wolfson finished the weekend with 3.25 kills per set while hitting .431. SHe also added seven blocks, four digs and three aces.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN...

Brown will have to get used to being away from home as the Bears will play their first 14 games away from the Pizzitola Sports Center. The Bears will play their first five Ivy League games away from home before taking on Harvard on Oct. 17.
Brown is the last team in the NCAA to host a game this season.

COMING UP GOLDEN

Jessie Golden was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season. The Tampa, Fla., native, as well as former Bear Victoria Vo have combined to give Brown three of the last four Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Golden reached 1,000-career digs last season and currently has 1,290 digs. Golden is just 143 digs away from moving into third all-time in Brown program history.
Golden comes into her senior year with a career 4.06 digs per set number. That number would be third all-time in program history. Golden has finished with a higher digs per set number than 4.06 in each of her last two seasons.

KAKKIS TAKING CONTROL

Sophomore Julia Kakkis took control of Brown's offense when the freshman setter took over the spot at the beginning of Ivy League play last season. Kakkis finished the year with 8.81 assists per set and earned Honorable Mention Ivy League honors in her first year on College Hill.
Kakkis finished the year with 16-straight matches of double-figure assists and had a season-best 53 assists against Princeton.
This season, Kakkis has again been at the helm of Brown's offense as the sophomore is averaging 9.31 assists per set. Kakkis has gone over 40 assists three times and has reached the 30-assist mark in nine matches this season, including each of the last five.

NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

Brown will be playing on ESPNU for the second-straight season as the Bears will host Princeton on national TV on Nov. 2 at 12 p.m. Last year Brown and Princeton also played on ESPNU in Providence with Princeton coming away with a five-set win.

WINNING WAYS

Brown has now posted four-straight seasons with winning records in Ivy League play after finished 8-6 last season. Brown's tied its longest stretch of winning league records as Brown was over .500 from 1987-90. The Bears posted a .500 record or better from 1983-90.
Brown's 11 wins last season made it six-straight seasons of double-digit wins for Brown. The last time Brown had seven-straight double-digit win seasons came from 1996-2002.

SOAKING UP THE SUNSHINE

Brown made its first trip to Florida since 2018, when the Bears made the trip to Stetson for a three-game tournament. During the trip to UCF, Brown pulled off a four-set win over the host Knights, giving Brown its first win over a Power 4 team in program history.

WOLFSON'S HOT START

Brown sophomore Sophia Wolfson got off to a hot start at the Ocean State Cup, taking over as Brown's starting middle. Wolfson finished with double-digit kills in two matches, including a career-high 14 against URI. Wolfson also hit .500 or higher in two matches, hitting .625 against Bryant. For her efforts, Wolfson was named to the Ocean State Cup All-Tournament Team.
Things got better for Wolfson over Brown's trip to UConn as the sophomore put on a career performance in wins over Sacred Heart and Marist. Wolfson finished with 12 blocks in both a three-set win against the Pioneers and a four-set win against the Red Foxes.
It marks just the second time in program history that a Bear has had 12+ blocks in back-to-back matches with the last time being Leyla Goldsmith in 1996 against Columbia and Cornell.

HITTING HIGH

Sophia Wolfson has already hit over .500 in five matches this season, including a season-best .625 against Bryant. All five of those matches have come with double-figure kills, the lowest a 10-kill performance in Brown's win over UCF (Sept. 14).
The last Bear to have at least five matches with over a .500 hitting percentage (min. 10 attacks) was Beau Vanderlaan, who did it seven times back in 2023. Vanderlaan also had five matches of over .500 hitting and double-figure kills during the season.

SIDOROVA PILING UP THE KILLS

Senior Masha Sidorova has been piling up the kills for the Bears this season, having led the team in kills in six of the nine matches this season. Sidorova leads Brown with 3.23 kills per set and was the first Bear to hit the 100 kill mark this year.
Sidorova picked up back-to-back double-digit kills for the first time this season at UConn's tournament including a season-high 17 against Marist. The senior now has 39 double-figure kill matches in her career.

IVY TIME

Brown begins its ivy League season taking on Yale and Princeton in its first two matches of the schedule. These two teams, along with Brown are the only three teams to make every Ivy League Tournament. Brown has struggled against Princeton and Yale the last three seasons with the Bears going 0-6 against both Yale and Princeton in the regular seasons. The Bears are a combined 27-3 against the other five Ivy League schools.
During the Ivy League Tournament, Brown is 2-1 all-time against Princeton, with all three meetings coming in the semifinal. Brown lost both the 2022 and 2023 Ivy League Tournament final to Yale.

ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS

Brown has had five players earn All-Tournament honors throughout preseason play.
In the first weekend, Sophia Wolfson and Julia Kakkis were named to the Ocean State Cup All-Tournament Team.
Jessie Golden earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team in the second weekend of the season at UCF.
Wolfson and Ally Panzloff earned All-Tournament Honors at UConn.

IT'S ABOUT HOW YOU START

The first set has been instrumental in Brown's success under head coach Taylor Virtue. When Brown wins the first set this season, they are 5-0 and in the three seasons under Virtue Brown is 32-4 overall when winning the first set.
If the Bears lose the first set, things have been bleak. Brown is 0-5 this season if they drop the first set and 3-21 under Virtue overall.
When Brown wins the first two sets of a match they are 25-2 under Virtue but are 1-20 when dropping the first two sets.

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Brown University Athletics

Volleyball Travels To Cornell and Columbia for Weekend Matches

Players Mentioned

Jessie Golden

Julia Kakkis

Ally Panzloff

Mariia Sidorova

Beau Vanderlaan

Victoria Vo

Sophia Wolfson

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