Women's Volleyball Weekly Release - Week 6

Princeton's Lydia Rudnick and Penn's Alex Caldwell

Photos courtesy of Penn Athletic Communications and Princeton Athletic Communications

PRINCETON, N.J. -- Ivy League women's volleyball swings into another pivotal weekend with Yale and Princeton undefeated in conference play and Columbia just one game behind in the loss column.

Both Yale and Princeton picked up key road sweeps with the Bulldogs cruising to straight-set wins at Cornell and Columbia and the Tigers taking victories at Harvard and Dartmouth. Princeton fought from down 2-1 against the Crimson to grab the match in five games then downed the Big Green in three to complete the road sweep.

The upcoming weekend's matches feature a key contest between two of the League's top three teams when Columbia heads south to take on Princeton Friday night. The Tigers enter the match with their sights on extending their winning streak to four, while Columbia looks to get back on track after having its five-match winning streak haulted by Yale.

Only one non-League contest on the mid-week schedule this week as Brown plays host to in-state rival Rhode Island Wednesday night.

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. 30.

Penn junior libero Dani Shepherd still paces all of NCAA Division I in digs per set at 6.43. The Quakers are also still in the top spot in the same category at 21.25 per game. Yale moved up a spot to second at 19.39 digs per set. Cornell junior outside hitter Kelly Marble remains among the leaders in aces per set, ranked 14th at 0.49. Her Big Red fell a few spots as a team from the week prior but still sits in the top 10 nationally in 17th at 1.63 per set. Columbia senior middle blocker Heather Braunagel currently ranks 16th in hitting percentage at .407. Click here for the complete NCAA statistics.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Princeton senior outside hitter Lydia Rudnick (Encinitas, Calif.) posted consecutive doubles-doubles to give her Tigers to key road Ivy League wins at Harvard and Dartmouth.

Rudnick was brilliant against Harvard, recording 25 kills, 14 digs and five blocks, in leading Princeton to a hard-fought five-set victory. She led another efficient outing Tiger hitters with 12 kills and 13 digs.

Rudnick leads all Ivies in kills (4.15) and points (4.73) per set.

She earns fifth all-time weekly award (four Player and one Rookie). Ironically, four of five her honors have come in the month of October. Her previous Player of the Week awards were Oct. 5, 2010, Oct. 18 and Nov. 15, 2011 and her one Rookie of the Year honor was Oct. 27, 2009.

Rudnick's Weekly Stats
.264 hitting pct., 4.62 K/S, 3.38 D/S, 8 BA

ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
Penn freshman right side hitter Alex Caldwell (San Jose, Calif.) continued to shine in all phases of the game as the Quakers split a pair of Ancient Eight matches.

Caldwell came up with six kills (on a .417 hitting percentage), 12 assists and eight digs in a sweep of Dartmouth, then followed that up with a near triple-double at Harvard. Against the Crimson, Caldwell had eight kills, 25 assists and 18 digs. She added a solo block and four block assists as well.

Caldwell grabs her second-straight Rookie of the Week honor and gives Penn its fourth this season. Fellow rookie Ronnie Bither received the award in back-to-back weeks on Sept. 4 and 11.

Caldwell's Weekly Stats
.297 hitting pct., 1.75 K/S, 4.62 A/S, 3.25 D/S, 1 BS, 5 BA

HONOR ROLL
Caitlin Brenton, Columbia (So., OH - San Jose, Calif.)
.224 hitting pct., 2.62 K/S, 1 BS, 4 BA

Taylor Docter, Harvard (Sr., OH - Los Altos, Calif.)
3.21 K/S, 3.0 D/S, 3 SA, 1 BS, 4 BA

Jesse Ebner, Yale (Fr., MB - Portola Valley, Calif.)
.333 hitting pct., 2.33 K/S, 1.67 D/S, 5 BA

Kelly Marble, Cornell (Jr., OH - Davie, Fla.)
3.25 K/S, 2.58 D/S, 6 BA

Kendall Polan, Yale (Jr., S - Cardiff, Calif.)
.326 hitting pct., 3.67 K/S, 6.50 A/S, 6.33 D/S, 2 BA

Susan Stuecheli, Penn (Jr., MB - Troy, Mich.)
.444 hitting pct., 3.12 K/S, 4 BS, 3 BA

Kathleeen Wallace, Harvard (Fr., OH - San Francisco)
.330 hitting pct., 2.79 K/S, 8 BA

UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Wednesday, October 3
Rhode Island at Brown, 7 pm

Friday, October 5
Brown at Harvard, 7 pm
Columbia at Princeton, 7 pm
Cornell at Penn, 7 pm
Yale at Dartmouth, 7 pm

Saturday, October 6
Brown at Dartmouth, 5 pm
Columbia at Penn, 5 pm
Cornell at Princeton, 5 pm
Yale at Harvard, 5 pm