It’s hard to imagine that the volleyball team is in good spirits — not only did the Red drop two matches last weekend to fall to No. 4 in the Ivy standings, they’re also heading right back on the road this weekend to face Brown today and first-place Yale tomorrow. But head coach Deitre Collins-Parker and the rest of the team was so buoyed by their play in the five-set loss to Penn on Saturday that the confidence is flowing — even as they’re about to take on a Bulldog squad that handed the Red a resounding 25-16, 25-12, 25-13 defeat just two weeks ago.

The football team started Saturday afternoon’s contest against Brown on a positive note. It was what happened later that explains why the Red returned to Ithaca with its third consecutive loss of the season, losing 27-7. Brown quarterback Michael Dougherty survived a shaky first quarter to lead his squad, accumulating 285 yards through the air to complement two touchdowns. Both scores went to wide reciever Bobby Sewall, who made 11 catches for 181 yards.

Judging by the level of play and results, it was almost as if two different teams were representing Cornell in Newman Arena over the weekend. On Friday, the volleyball team was thoroughly outplayed by a dominant Yale squad, 25-16, 25-12, 25-13. The next day, the Red showed some jitters early on, but rebounded quickly to take a close match from Brown, 18-25, 25-21, 27-25, 25-23.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Everything seemed back to normal. Cornell was on the road at Brown Stadium and senior signal caller Nathan Ford had just connected with senior wide receiver Jesse Baker to stake the Red to an early 7-0 advantage over the Bears with five minutes remaining in the first quarter. Baker’s 16-yard cross route accounted for his team-leading fifth touchdown — hauling in all five on the road. For Ford, it was his sixth touchdown away from Schoellkopf Field and seventh of the season. The Red offense seemed to be clicking much as it had earlier in the season. Who knew, however, that those would be the only points Cornell would score all afternoon as the Red suffered its third straight defeat, 27-7?

It was hard to take football head coach Jim Knowles ’87 seriously as he casually discussed the intricacies of Brown’s passing attack. He had a unibrow thickly drawn in and a dark mustache painted on his upper lip — not to mention a towel stuffed in the back of his shirt to give a hunchback look.