Rams roll to 3-0 mark at Grinnell Tourney

Cornell bounced back from a mid-week loss to Coe and reeled off three wins over the weekend at the Grinnell Tournament, improving its tournament record to 6-0 on the year.

The Rams (7-1 overall, 0-1 Iowa Conference) earned a 25-22, 22-25, 25-17, 25-11 victory Friday night over host Grinnell, four days after sweeping the Pioneers (25-16, 25-11, 25-17) in Cornell's home opener Sept. 5.

Cornell scored Saturday sweeps over Iowa Wesleyan (25-14, 25-18, 25-11) and Westminster (25-14, 25-19, 25-22). The Rams were the lone unbeaten in the four-team tournament at 3-0.

"It was good to pick up three wins over the weekend," Cornell head coach Jeff Meeker said. "We played well as a team and focused on improving at playing volleyball one point at a time. When we learn to do this consistently, we will be a very good team."

Cornell's lone blemish during the week was a four-set loss to Coe (25-23, 20-25, 25-22, 25-21) in the IIAC opener Sept. 7 in Cedar Rapids.

"We were definitely disappointed with our play against Coe," Meeker said. "It was a tough early assignment for us against a very good team. Coe simply played a little better than we did and scored a couple big points in a very close match. We were able to take away some important lessons that will make us a better team as we move forward."

Sophomore outside hitter Kathleen O'Connor and freshman middle hitter Taylor Dicus were both named to the all-tournament team at Grinnell.

Dicus tallied a team-best 36 kills and hit .333 in the three tournament matches. She also led the Rams with nine block assists. Dicus posted a season-high 17 kills in the Grinnell contest.

O'Connor totaled 31 kills, 29 digs (2.9 dps), six service aces and five block assists in the tournament. This was O'Connor's second all-tournament honor in as many weeks, which included the season-opening Augustana Tournament Sept. 3.

The Rams hit .235 for the week and had seven different players average at least one kill per set, led by O'Connor (3.18 kps) and Dicus (3.00 kps). Samantha Pedersen and freshman Katie Sickelka collected 33 and 31 total kills, respectively.

Freshman setter Sabrina Hargis dished out 117 assists (6.88 aps) on the week and fired eight aces, sharing team-high honors with O'Connor. Kelsey Gaillot delivered 62 assists (3.65 aps) and five aces. Dicus finished with 15 total blocks, followed by Sickelka's 13. Freshman libero Kylea Weber had 64 digs (4.0 dps)

Rams in the rankings - Cornell is No. 1 in the IIAC averaging 2.12 aces per set. The Rams rank second in hitting percentage (.245) and are third in both kills (12.27 kps) and assists (10.96 aps).

Dicus tops the conference with a .423 attack percentage. She is second in blocks, averaging 1.04 per set. O'Connor is fourth in the league with 0.62 aces per set.

Coming up - Cornell hits the road for a pair of nonconference matches this week. The Rams face NAIA's St. Ambrose Wednesday and travels to play Augustana Friday.

"Our goal is to make improvements every time we compete. This week will give us two great opportunities to do this," Meeker said. "St. Ambrose is always a strong team that plays a fast tempo, and will be a good challenge for us. Augustana is a solid team that will provide us another good test."