Volleyball News Releases
Paczosa becomes first Ram to total 1,000 career kills and digs
Coming up - Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Buena Vista, Storm Lake, 6 p.m. (JV), 7:30 p.m. (varsity); Thursday, Oct. 15, at Augustana, Rock Island, Ill., 6 p.m. (JV), 7:30 p.m. (varsity); Friday, Oct. 23, at UW-La Crosse Tournament, La Crosse, Wis., vs. Buena Vista, 5 p.m., vs. UW-Platteville, 7 p.m.; Saturday, Oct. 24, at UW-La Crosse Tournament, La Crosse, Wis., at UW-La Crosse, 10 a.m., vs. Clarke, 12 p.m.
Ram rewind - Cornell cooled off after a red-hot start against Luther, dropping the final three sets in a 25-10, 19-25, 13-25, 18-25 Iowa Conference loss Oct. 6 at the Small Multi-Sport Center in Mount Vernon.
The Rams (16-7 overall, 3-2 IIAC) fell into a tie with Loras for fourth place in the league race, although sit only one game back in the loss column behind Simpson and Luther. Wartburg remains atop the standings at 4-0.
Cornell came out firing against the Norse, hammering 14 kills with a .429 attack percentage in the Set 1 victory. The Rams hit .070, .097 and .114 in the final three sets.
"I think we learned a few lessons from our loss to Luther and we are working hard to put those lessons to use," Cornell head coach Jeff Meeker said. "Luther is a very good team and they simply played better defense and made fewer mistakes than we did."
Senior outside hitter Kristin Paczosa (Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) led all players with 17 kills. Alissa Benjamin (Lakewood, Colo./D'Evelyn) chipped in 10 kills and three block assists. Simone Wright (Beach Park, Ill./Waukegan) was in on four block assists. Hannah Boehmer (Riverside/Mid-Prairie) distributed 37 assists and Caiti Hladky (Fort Lupton, Colo./Valley) tallied 20 digs.
New standard - In the Oct. 3 match against Carleton, Paczosa became the first player in Cornell history to register 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in a career. She ranks in the Rams' top five all-time in both categories - second in kills (1,225) and fifth in digs (1,008).
The versatile Paczosa has six double-doubles this season with matches of at least 10 kills and 10 digs. She has recorded double-digit kill totals in each of her last five matches.
Winning season - The Rams can guarantee their first winning season since 2004, needing only one more victory with eight regular-season matches remaining. Meeker's 2004 squad, which took second in the IIAC Tournament, finished 23-13 overall. The Rams went 16-16 in both 2008 and 2006.
National rankings - According to the latest NCAA Division III statistical report Oct. 4, Cornell ranks 11th nationally in hitting percentage (.261) and 19th in kills per set (12.76), leading the conference in both categories. Senior middle hitter Laura Dudgeon (Bettendorf/Bettendorf) ranks 10th in Division III with a .405 hitting percentage, best in the IIAC.
Road trips - The Rams hit the road Tuesday for an IIAC match against the Buena Vista Beavers (2-21, 0-4) in Storm Lake. Cornell has won four of the last six meetings in the series, including two straight.
Cornell travels to Rock Island, Ill., Thursday for a nonconference contest with Augustana (11-12), which entered the week winning nine of its last 10 matches.
"We've had several great practices and I feel good about how we are improving as a team," Meeker said. "Our goal this week is to stay focused on the little details that make a big difference in the way we play."
