MOUNT VERNON – It got a little too close for comfort Thursday night for Cornell's volleyball team, even with a large crowd behind it inside the Small Athletic and Wellness Center.
The host and No. 4 seed Rams zipped through the first two sets, gave one back in the third, and pushed through in the fourth for a 25-19, 25-22, 25-27, 25-22
NCAA regional quarterfinal victory over No. 5 seed Millikin.
Coach
Jeff Meeker's 25th-ranked Rams celebrated the program's first NCAA Tournament win since 2014 and an opportunity to play again on its home floor Friday night.
Cornell (23-7) will square off with No. 1 seed and fifth-ranked Northwestern (30-4) in a semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday. The Eagles advanced with a 25-11, 25-19, 25-17 win over Edgewood.
No. 2 seed UW-Whitewater (27-4) faces No. 3 seed Wash U (24-9) in Friday's first semifinal at 4:30 p.m.
The semifinal winners advance to Saturday's regional final at 5 p.m.
The Rams will attempt to knock off Northwestern, a 2022 Final Four team, for the second time this season. Cornell outlasted the Eagles in a five-setter – 29-27, 16-25, 15-25, 25-18, 15-10 – on Sept. 9 in Mount Vernon.
Cornell eliminated Millikin (22-12) with a solid .220 hitting performance during which the Rams blasted 58 kills, their highest total since mid-September. Senior
Ilah Perez-Johnson led the charge with 17 kills, while also posting 13 digs and four aces.
Carly Puffer and
Kiana Manson delivered 12 kills apiece.
Grace Marti and
Ella McLaughlin added eight and seven kills, respectively, and both finished with five blocks.
Clare Green set 50 assists and scooped 13 digs.
Ella Becker tallied a match-high 17 digs.
Kensie Staats had 10 digs.
The Rams had chances to end the match early, leading 24-23 and 25-24 in the third set. The Big Blue scored the final three points and forced a fourth set that went down to the wire.
Set 4 was locked at 20-20 when Cornell took the lead for good on a spike by McLaughlin. A Manson kill pushed the Rams ahead 24-22 and then
Nia Howard served out the winning point.
