Princeton Falls in Three Tight Sets to Cornell

Saturday, October 3

Princeton, N.J.

5:00 PM

Princeton University

4-7,2-1Ivy League

Cornell

7-5,3-0Ivy League

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Cornell	25	25	27	3
Princeton	22	23	25	0

Sydney Draper had a team-high tying eight digs to go along with her 31 assists.

Photo by: Joshua Gao

October 03, 2026 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score

PRINCETON, N.J. — In a battle of Ivy League unbeatens, the Princeton University women's volleyball team suffered its first setback of the season, falling to Cornell in three sets Saturday evening at Dillon Gym. Set scores were 22-25, 23-25, 25-27.

Three Tigers (4-7, 2-1 Ivy) tallied double-digit kills, led by 14 from Ava Harrington, while the Big Red (7-5, 3-0 Ivy) won its ninth consecutive set to begin Ancient Eight play and hit .340 for the match.

How It Happened

Coming off a sweep of Penn on Friday night, Cornell opened the match with two straight points before Princeton responded with a kill from Ava Harrington and a Cornell bad set to tie it at 2-2. Back-to-back Harrington kills knotted the score at 9-9, but the Big Red answered with three straight points to take a 12-9 lead. Cornell led 15-11 at the media timeout and continued to pull away, scoring six of the next 10 points to take its largest lead of the set at 21-15 and force a Princeton timeout.

The Tigers responded to Sabrina King's coaching nicely after the break, rattling off five straight points on kills from Harrington and Erin McNair to cut the deficit to 21-20. Princeton then tied the set at 22-all, but Cornell scored the final three points to take the opening set, 25-22, and a 1-0 lead.

A Mackenzie Parsons kill gave the Big Red a 1-0 lead to open the second set, but the Tigers quickly responded with kills from Ashtyn Sims and Harrington to tie it at 2-2. Princeton took a three-point lead at 7-4 on a kill from Shelby Burriss, who also contributed a block with Sydney Draper during the run. After Princeton extended its advantage to 10-7, Cornell answered with five of the next six points to go back in front, 12-11.

From there, the two squads went back and forth, with neither team giving an inch. Cornell pulled ahead by three at 20-17, but five straight Tiger points—fueled by kills from Sims and Draper and three Cornell attack errors—gave Princeton a 22-20 advantage. The Big Red responded by scoring five of the next six points to win the second set, 25-23, and take a 2-0 lead.

Desperate to take a set from Cornell, Princeton opened the third with a 2-0 edge, starting with a Harrington kill—her 12th of the match. Neither team led by more than a point until the Big Red surged ahead 11-8 with three straight points. A Karin Rio service error and another Harrington kill trimmed the Cornell lead to 11-10, but the Big Red answered with three straight to make it 14-10.

Cornell's lead grew to a set-high five points at 18-13 before the Big Red moved within five points of a sweep at 20-16. McNair then led a three-point Tiger run with two kills, bringing Princeton within one at 20-19.

Jaida Sione's kill gave Cornell match point at 24-21, but that didn't silence the Tigers, who reeled off four straight points to take a 25-24 lead. The Big Red tied it, regained match point, and used a Haley Clark ace to put away the match, 27-25, completing the three-set sweep.

Of Note

Ava Harrington continued her strong stretch with a match-high 14 kills.
Two other Tigers finished in double figures for kills with 11 for Erin McNair and 10 for Ashtyn Sims.
Sydney Draper was a force defensively with a team-high tying eight digs. She also had 31 assists, four kills, and three block assists.
Princeton nearly totaled double-digit service aces for the second straight night, finishing one shy as a team at nine. Harrington had four, McNair had three, with one each for Shelby Burriss and Sydney Bold.
Burriss also tallied three block assists, joining Draper who combined for six of the Tigers' 10.