MOUNT VERNON – Cornell's volleyball team put the finishing touch on a perfect Midwest Conference regular season with a 25-22, 25-11, 25-20 victory over Lawrence Saturday inside the Small Sport Center.
The Rams then completed a Senior Day sweep by outlasting non-conference foe Dubuque in a five-set battle – 25-18, 25-20, 19-25, 25-27, 15-8.
Cornell (18-11 overall) is the MWC regular-season champion for the ninth year in a row, going 8-0 in league play while dropping only two sets along the way. This is the team's eighth undefeated MWC regular season since 2012.
The Rams built more momentum going into next week's MWC Tournament, which they will host Nov. 5-6.
Clare Green distributed 84 assists in Saturday's matches, highlighted by a double-double of 52 assists and 14 digs against Dubuque (10-17). The freshman setter is now only 25 assists shy of 1,000 for the season.
Rory Light and
Alissa McEndaffer formed a potent 1-2 hitting punch with 30 and 26 kills, respectively, for the day. Light totaled 18 kills against Dubuque,
Ilah Perez-Johnson 17, McEndaffer 12,
Olivia Richards 11 and
Grace Marti nine.
Perez-Johnson and
Sydney Meeker shared team-high honors with 23 digs apiece against the Spartans. Richards added a season-best 20 digs.
Meeker fired six total service aces on her Senior Day, which included recognition of teammates McEndaffer,
Lindsey Frazier,
Taylor Cruz and
Sarah Carvo.
McEndaffer posted a match-high 14 kills against Lawrence (5-18 overall, 0-8 MWC). Light hit a sizzling .600 with 12 kills.
The top-seeded Rams open MWC Tournament play Friday with a 7 p.m. semifinal against Monmouth in the Small Sport Center. Grinnell and Illinois College meet in Friday's first semifinal at 4:30 p.m.