If you visit the women’s volleyball website, you can’t miss the countdown to the team’s home opener. Currently, the “Days” column reads “0,” as we are just hours and minutes away from the Red’s first home contest of the season tonight at 7 p.m. in Newman Arena. Who better to get things started with than Colgate, one of the Red’s perennial rivals.

“Cornell and Colgate want to perpetuate that rivalry and we try to play each other every year in most sports,” said head coach Sarah Bernson. “Since our big championship run and losing graduating seniors, we’ve been young the last two times we played them and lost those matchups. This year, I think it should be a good matchup.”Home court advantage: The volleyball team will host Colgate, St. John’s and Buffalo at the Cornell Invitational.

Cornell is also hosting St. John’s (5-7) and the University at Buffalo (6-4), who will both get their chance to play the Red tomorrow. But Colgate (1-6) will be the Red’s (2-4) first opponent at this weekend’s Cornell invitational.

“They’ve lost six in a row, and I know they aren’t happy,” Bernson said. “They’ll want to come in here and win. Every time you play a team that you play every year, there’s a lot of anticipation.”

On Saturday, Cornell will open the day against St. John’s at 11 a.m. The Red Storm is 1-0 against the Red all-time, having won the only matchup in 2006. St. John’s ended 2006 as a top-25 team and is coming off of a victory against Hofstra in Wednesday’s Queens/Nassau Cup.

“They are a tall and very athletic team relative to the teams we’ve already played, and they will make some flashy plays,” Bernson said.

Buffalo relies more on one player — senior outside hitter/middle blocker Dani Silvers. With 139 kills (3.97/game), Silvers leads the team by 51 kills.

Unlike Buffalo, Cornell will be relying on a wider and younger range of options to work with sophomore setter Jordan Reeder. The Red boasts of six players with at least 23 kills. Freshman outside hitter Deveney Pula and senior middle blocker lead the pack with 34 kills apiece, while freshman Alice Cope, junior Alessa Cekauskas, junior Erin McCarthy, and sophomore Madeleine Przybyl each have between 23 and 30 kills.

Ten members of Cornell’s squad have already played in at least 13 of the Red’s 21 games through six sets this year. Cornell’s versatility and depth may or may not play a factor over the course of the weekend, playing against three very different teams.

“Each team plays such a different style,” Bernson said. “Colgate plays low and fast to the net, while St. John’s uses their athleticism to get higher and play above the tape. Buffalo has a few key contributors who we’ll have to keep an eye on.”

But for Cornell, playing in its final tournament before a match with Syracuse on Wednesday and then finally opening Ivy play next weekend, the Cornell Invitational is just that — all about Cornell.

“This weekend, we just want to stick to our offense,” Bernson said. “We’ll make slight adjustments each game, but the fact that we are playing such different teams shouldn’t change our approach too much.

“We saw improvement last weekend, and hopefully that development will continue this weekend. We saw different players be leaders, and it will be interesting to see who will emerge as a leader this weekend.”