Women's Volleyball Weekly Release - Week 4

Columbia's Atlanta Moye-McLaren and Yale's Kelly Johnson

Photos courtesy of Columbia Media Relations/Sports Information and Yale Sports Publicity

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The heart of the 2012 Ivy League women's volleyball season kicks in this weekend as teams partake in their first conference matches. 

The League schedule starts with the four travel-partner matches -- Dartmouth hosting Harvard Friday night and Brown welcoming Yale, Columbia clashing with Cornell and Penn playing host to Princeton on Saturday. Starting the Ivy schedule on a winning note has been a key to recent title success as the League champions in the past seven years have won the crown with two or fewer losses -- 2005 (Cornell, 12-2), 2006 (Cornell, 12-2), 2007 (Princeton, 14-0), 2008 (Yale, 13-1), 2009 (Penn, 13-1), 2010 (Yale and Penn, 12-2) and 2011 (Yale, 12-2).

Non-conference matches sandwich the opening of Ivy play this weekend with Harvard, Penn, Princeton and Yale competing in mid-week matches over Tuesday and Wednesday. On Sunday, Dartmouth takes the short trip to face in-state rival New Hampshire while Penn battles Towson at The Palestra.

Ivy League in the NCAA Statistics
The Ivy League is among the NCAA Division I leaders in several individual and team statistical categories through matches of Sept. 16.

Following a strong showing at the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West Penn Invitational, Penn junior libero Dani Shepherd catapulted to the top spot as the leader in in digs per set at 6.48. Columbia junior middle blocker Savannah Fletcher moved into the top 20 at 19th in blocks per set at 1.43. Cornell has the "Kelly" duo of sophomore setter Kelly Reinke (44th, 0.44) and junior outside hitter Kelly Marble (13th, 0.53) who has the Big Red as the fitth-best team in aces per set at 1.79. The League has two of the top-five teams in digs per set with Penn leading the country at 22.52 and Yale third at 18.61. Click here for the complete NCAA statistics.

All-Tournament Honors
Ivies earning All-Tournament honors from the third weekend of tournament play were:

Columbia - Atlanta Moye-McLaren (MVP), Savannah Fletcher and Megan Gaughn at the Columbia Invitational
Cornell - Rachel D'Epagnier (Best Blocker Award) and Kelly Marble (Best Server Award) at the Temple Invitational
Dartmouth - Elisa Scudder at the Blue and White Classic
Harvard - Kristen Casey at the New England Challenge
Penn - Dani Shepard at the Crowne Plaza Philadelphia West Penn Invitational
Princeton - Leah Jordan at the George Washington/Nike Invitational
Yale - Mollie Rogers at the San Diego Tournament

PLAYER AND CO-ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Columbia freshman outside hitter Atlanta Moye-McLaren (Los Angeles) swung her way to Most Valuable Player honors in the Lions' own invitational with her first career double-doubles with identical 10-kill, 13-dig performances vs. Hofstra and Rhode Island. Moye-McLaren narrowly missed a double-double against Colgate, as she recorded nine kills and 16 digs.

Moye-McLaren wins her first weekly honor, giving Columbia its first Player of the Week since Megan Gaughn on Sept. 21, 2010 and its first Rookie of the Week award Caitlin Brenton on Oct. 11, 2011.

Moye-McLauren's Weekly Stats
.255 hitting pct., 2.42 K/S, 3.50 D/S, 5 SA, 1 BS, 2 BA

CO-ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Yale freshman setter Kelly Johnson (Palos Verdes, Calif.) continued to be among the team leaders in several statistical categories after a solid weekend at the San Diego Tournament. Johnson notched a triple-double against UC Santa Barbara (10 kills, 10 digs and 23 assists) and followed up the next day with eight kills against No. 17 San Diego and five kills and four digs against Fresno State.

Johnson also wins her first weekly honor and is the first Eli to win Rookie of the Week honors since Mollie Rogers on Nov. 15, 2011.

Johnson's Weekly Stats
.270 hitting pct., 2.30 K/S, 3.40 A/S, 1.80 D/S, 2 BA

HONOR ROLL
Erin Cooney, Harvard (Jr., RS - Bloomfield, Mich.)
.269 hitting pct., 2.33 K/S, 6 BA

Rachel D'Epagnier, Cornell (Jr., MB - Coopersburg, Pa.)
.404 hitting pct., 3.14 K/S, 5 SA, 1 BS, 7 BA

Mollie Rogers, Yale (So., OH - San Diego)
2.70 K/S, 3.40 D/S, 3.0 PTS/S

Lydia Rudnick, Princeton (Sr., OH - Encinitas, Calif.)
.205 hitting pct., 3.55 K/S, 2.36 D/S, 1 BS, 3 BA

Dani Shepherd, Penn (Jr., L - Los Angeles, Calif.)
8.08 D/S, 0.67 A/S, 3 SA

Breanna Wong, Cornell (Fr., RS - Highlands Ranch, Colo.)
.260 hitting pct., 2.86 K/S, 5 BA

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Tuesday, September 18
Harvard at New Hampshire, 7 pm
Lehigh at Princeton, 7 pm

Wednesday, September 19
Penn at Delaware, 7 pm
Albany at Yale, 7 pm

Friday, September 21
*Harvard at Dartmouth, 7 pm

Saturday, September 22
*Yale at Brown, 2 pm
*Cornell at Columbia, 2 pm
*Princeton at Penn, 5 pm

Sunday, September 23
Dartmouth at New Hampshire, 2 pm
Towson at Penn, 4 pm