PRINCETON, N.J. -- After setting new career-best marks in kills and hitting percentage, Cornell senior outside hitter
Emily Wemhoff and Dartmouth freshman outside hitter
Olympia Nagel-Caland were dubbed the Player and Rookie of the Week, respectively.
LEAGUE NOTES
- Reigning Ivy League champion Princeton paces the Ancient Eight with an 8-3 overall record—and 1-0 League mark—heading into the first weekend of League back-to-backs.
- The Tigers are closely followed by Yale (7-3, 1-0), which handed Princeton its lone League loss in 2016. Two of Yale’s three losses this season have been to ranked opponents in then-No. 19 USC (3-0) and then-No. 2 Penn State (3-0).
- The Tigers and Bulldogs will have their first of two League meetings at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 30, in New Haven, Conn.
- For the second-straight year the Ivy League boasts a .500-or-better non-conference winning percentage. The League is 42-33 (.560) against non-conference opposition this season, after going 41-40 (.506) a year ago.
- Eight Ivies are hitting .300-or-better, led by Columbia sophomore middle blocker Chichi Ikwuazom (.393) and Penn senior outside hitter Kendall Covington (.385). Ikwuazom (36th) and Covington (42nd) each rank among the national leaders in the category.
- Princeton sophomore outside hitter Natasha Skov continues to pace the Ancient Eight with 3.61 kills per set and 4.07 points per set, while Tiger sophomore setter Jessie Harris leads the League and sits 48th nationally with 10.56 assists per set.
- Cornell also boasts a pair of category leaders in junior middle blocker Jenna Phelps and senior libero Kiley McPeek. Phelps averages 1.37 blocks per set to top the Ancient Eight and rank 38th nationally. McPeek leads the League with 5.27 digs per set—which ranks 26th in NCAA Division I. As a team, Cornell sits 15th nationally with 17.62 digs per set.
- Columbia sophomore setter Grace Campbell averages .59 service aces per set to top the Ivy League and rank fifth in NCAA Division I. As a team, the Lions rank third nationally with 1.97 aces per set.
- All eight of this week’s matches will be broadcast on the Ivy League Network, which is available on Apple TV and Roku. The network can be found at IvyLeague.TV and IvyLeagueNetwork.com.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Friday, September 29
Princeton at Brown, 7 p.m. [
ILN]
Columbia at Dartmouth, 7 p.m. [
ILN]
Cornell at Harvard, 7 p.m. [
ILN]
Penn at Yale, 7 p.m. [
ESPN3] [
ILN]
Saturday, September 30
Penn at Brown, 5 p.m. [
ILN]
Cornell at Dartmouth, 5 p.m. [
ILN]
Columbia at Harvard, 5 p.m. [
ILN]
Princeton at Yale, 5 p.m. [
ILN]
KEY
ILN – Broadcast on the Ivy League Network, now available on Apple TV and Roku
ESPN3 – Broadcast on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN App
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior outside hitter
Emily Wemhoff leads the Big Red with 3.59 kills per set—returning to the top of Cornell’s offensive charts after leading the team with 2.86 kills per set as a freshman.
The Gladstone, Mo., product lifted Cornell to a League-opening four-set victory over Columbia with a personal career-high and Ivy season-high 23 kills. Wemhoff hit a career-best .405, while tallying 23.5 points as the lone Big Red hitter to reach double-digit kills. The senior also amassed four digs, two assists and a block in the all-around performance.
Wemhoff is Cornell’s first Player of the Week honoree since
Alyssa Phelps and
Carla Sganderlla won back-to-back awards on Oct. 24 and Oct. 31, 2016. Emily’s older sister
Nicole Wemhoff was a setter at UMKC (2012-15), concluding her career ranked third in program history with 2,338 assists.
Wemhoff’s Statistics for the Week
1 MP, 4 Sets, 23 K, .405 Hitting %, 2 A, 4 Digs, 1 TB, 23.5 Pts.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
A well-traveled Dartmouth freshman who has visited 35 countries,
Olympia Nagel-Caland, made an impact all over the court for the Big Green in its Ivy opener.
The Los Angeles, Calif., native paced Dartmouth with 12.5 points in its League-opening loss to Harvard (3-1). Nagel-Caland hit a career-best .346, while tallying a career-best 12 kills. She was the lone freshman to hit .300-or-better with double-digit kills this week. The outside hitter also added three digs and a block in the defeat.
Nagel-Caland is the Big Green’s first Rookie of the Week award recipient since
Emily Astarita shared the honor on Oct. 29, 2013. Following that Rookie of the Week nod, Astarita went on to a three-time All-Ivy noted career (First-Team, 2015; Honorable Mention, 2014 & 2016).
Nagel-Caland’s Statistics for the Week
1 MP, 4 Sets, 12 K, .346 Hitting %, 3 Digs, 1 TB, 12.5 Pts.
HONOR ROLL
Sabrina Stillwell, Brown (Jr., RS – Laguna Beach, Calif.)
2 MP, 8 Sets, 21 K, .475 Hitting %, 4 Digs, 5 TB, 23.5 Pts.
Joanne Won, Brown (Fr., L – Newport Beach, Calif.)
2 MP, 8 Sets, 9 A, 1 SA, 25 Digs, 1.0 Pts.
Jaime Dailey, Columbia (Fr., OH – Newport Beach, Calif.)
1 MP, 4 Sets, 14 K, .294 Hitting %, 1 A, 1 SA, 3 Digs, 15.0 Pts.
Chichi Ikwuazom, Columbia (So., MB – New York, N.Y.)
1 MP, 4 Sets, 7 K, .235 Hitting %, 1 Dig, 10 TB, 12.5 Pts.
Tori Dozier, Dartmouth (So., S – Raleigh, N.C.)
1 MP, 4 Sets, 6 K, .353 Hitting %, 35 A, 5 Digs, 6 TB, 9.0 Pts.
Christina Cornelius, Harvard (Jr., MB – Los Angeles, Calif.)
1 MP, 4 Sets, 18 K, .467 Hitting %, 3 A, 1 SA, 10 Digs, 2 TB, 20.0 Pts.
Natasha Skov, Princeton (So., OH – Oakland, Calif.)
1 MP, 3 Sets, 13 K, .296 Hitting %, 1 Dig, 13.0 Pts.
Shreya Dixit, Yale (Jr., MB – San Jose, Calif.)
1 MP, 3 Sets, 6 K, .857 Hitting %, 1 A, 4 TB, 9.0 Pts.
Kelley Wirth, Yale (Jr., OH – Moraga, Calif.)
1 MP, 3 Sets, 13 K, .231 Hitting %, 2 Digs, 1 TB, 13.5 Pts.