While New York City prepares itself for a tickertape parade, the volleyball team will be preparing itself for its last home stand of the season. With just four matches left and tied with Dartmouth for fifth place, Cornell has a chance to move up in the standings this weekend with matches against Princeton tomorrow and Penn on Saturday.

"We know we have to prove ourselves this weekend," said senior captain libero Megan Mushovic. "We also know that just because we're out of winning the Ivy League doesn't mean we can't shake up the league anyway"

Reach higher: Volleyball will have a tough time tryng to break their four game losing streak against Penn and Princeton this weekend.

Cornell (6-15, 3-7 Ivy) will begin its final homestand against Princeton (7-13, 5-4), a team that got the better of Cornell in the last matchup. The Tigers have been playing well as of late, winning four-straight until being upended by Yale last Saturday.

Just two weeks ago in Princeton, N.J., the Tigers took a 3-1 victory while the Red played erratically. After losing game one, 25-14, Cornell showed signs of life with a 29-27 game two win. After scoring just 11 points in game three, Cornell’s 21-point effort in game four wasn’t enough to force a fifth game.

Sophomore setter Jordan Reeder totaled 29 assists while freshman outside Deveney Pula led the Red with 15 kills. Sophomore outside Meagan Tatum also hit double digit kills, with a team-high .235 hitting percentage.

The Tigers had several standouts on offense, led by sophomore setter Michaela Venuti and her 59 assists. Senior outside Sheena Donohue, freshman outside Lydia Rudnick, sophomore middle Cathryn Quinn, and senior right side Taylor Carroll combined for 68 of Princeton’s 71 kills in the match. The same foursome lead the Tigers in kills, with Donohue and Rudnik each averaging over 3 kills/set, good for fifth and seventh in the Ivy League rankings. But for Cornell, this weekend is a new weekend.

"Princeton's very beatable; they don't adjust well," Mushovic said, not noting Cornell's ability to adjust and beat Columbia just a week after losing to the Lions earlier in the season.

Penn (18-4, 9-0) will arrive in Ithaca with the Ivy League title in sight – whether they beat Columbia on Friday or the Lions (11-11, 2-7) somehow manage to thwart Penn’s run at a perfect season. Penn has been virtually untouchable all season long, earning four of their nine conference victories in straight sets and another four in 3-1 matches. The Quakers lone scare came in a 3-2 battle with defending champion and second-place Yale early in the season.

The Red had a consistent match against the Quakers in their first pairing, losing by similar set-scores of 25-16, 25-16, 25-19. Overpowered by Penn’s league leading offense (14.4 kills/set), Cornell managed just 26 kills in the three sets, but spread the ball well with five players having between four and six kills.

Cornell also managed to stifle Penn’s leading attacker, senior outside Elizabeth Semmens. Though Semmens did register a game-high 11 kills, it took 38 attempts with just a .079 hitting percentage for the league’s third leading hitter. Penn’s most dangerous weapon in their first match with Cornell was junior setter Megan Tryon. The floor general out of Los Angeles totaled 37 assists while hitting .667 with six kills – nothing new for the Ivy League leader in assists.

For three members of the Red, the match against Penn will be their last time playing competitively in Newman Arena. Senior captain libero Megan Mushovic, senior captain middle blocker Juliana Rogers, and classmate and fellow middle Jessica Misse will bid farewell to Newman Nation this weekend.

"It's also our last home games and we definitely think that's an important aspect," Mushovic said. "As a senior, I obviously want to leave Newman Arena on a good note"

And there's no better note than W.