Cornell libero Sydney Meeker achieved an impressive feat with her 2,000th career dig Saturday, Oct. 16, as the Rams split two matches to conclude the Colorado College Invitational at El Pomar Sports Center.
Meeker reached the milestone with a 26-dig effort in Cornell’s 24-26, 25-21, 25-22, 25-10 victory over Nebraska Wesleyan. The Rams came up short in the finale against No. 7 nationally-ranked Colorado College by scores of 25-15, 25-13 and 31-29.
Cornell (14-8 overall) finished 2-2 during its Block Break trip to Colorado Springs.
Meeker joined elite company as the 14th player in Midwest Conference history to attain 2,000 digs. The fifth-year senior stands No. 2 on Cornell’s all-time list behind Kylea Weber (2,508 digs, 2011-14).
Meeker has gathered 2,022 career digs with seven matches left in the regular season. She was a ball hawk Saturday with 47 digs in only seven sets, bumping her season total to 408.
Senior outside hitter Alissa McEndaffer climbed in the Top 10 on Cornell’s career kills list with 842. She posted 23 kills on Saturday, passing Katie Sickelka (2011-14) for 10th place all-time.
Junior Rory Light slammed a season-high 21 kills on .459 hitting in the 3-1 win over Nebraska Wesleyan (9-9). McEndaffer and Ilah Perez-Johnson added 14 and 12 kills, respectively.
The Rams served 12 aces against the Prairie Wolves, three each from Meeker and Olivia Richards. Clare Green set 47 assists. Richards had a season-best 22 digs, Perez-Johnson 17.
Cornell went point-for-point in a marathon Set 3 against highly-touted Colorado College (20-3). The set had 12 ties and six lead changes.
Green distributed 24 assists, nine going to McEndaffer and seven to Light. Meeker accounted for 21 digs.
Earlier in the tournament, Cornell’s went 1-1 against foes from California and Pennsylvania.
The Rams lost in three sets to No. 20 nationally-ranked UC Santa Cruz – 25-14, 25-17, 27-25 – and then bounced back with a 25-20, 25-22, 26-24 sweep over DeSales.
A service ace from Olivia Richards gave Cornell (13-7 overall) the clinching point in the 3-0 win against DeSales (13-7), marking the Rams’ ninth sweep of the season. Richards’ strong match included nine kills, 10 digs, three blocks and a pair of aces.
Light had an outstanding match at the net with 10 block assists, two shy of Cornell’s single-match record. She also led the Rams with 12 kills.
McEndaffer turned in 11 kills, Green set 35 assists and Meeker scooped 13 digs. The Rams outhit the Bulldogs, .222 to .074.
The Rams hung tough with UC Santa Cruz (15-2) in a battle that saw the score tied 24 times over the final two sets. The Banana Slugs used an 8-0 run to finish Set 2. Cornell had set-point serve twice in Set 3, leading 24-23 and 25-24.
McEndaffer added eight kills and 10 digs. Meeker notched 10 digs and two aces. Green delivered 26 assists.