After having a rough time at the Cornell Invitational, which concluded in a 0-3 loss to Buffalo, the volleyball team is heading further upstate in hopes of acquiring a win. The Red will play Syracuse tonight at 7 p.m. at the Manley Field House in Syracuse, N.Y., hoping to improve its 2-7 record.

The Orange (9-4) came to Newman Arena last September for the 2008 home opener, trouncing the Red 3-0 in the teams’ only matchup of the season.

“They have a few key hitters that are very quick and are very dynamic offensively, so we’ll have to keep track of them,” said head coach Sarah Bernson. “A good test for us will be that those hitters are on the outside, middle and right, so we’re not able to key in on just one position.”

Somber is the way sophomore middle blocker Kelly Hansen described the mood Saturday night, following the volleyball team’s loss — the third of the weekend — in straight sets to Buffalo at the conclusion of the Cornell Invitational. It was a decidedly subdued head coach Sarah Bernson, dressed coincidentally all in black, who led her team into the debriefing room. Somber indeed.

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.

With last week’s tough season-opening tournament out of the way and under its belt, the volleyball team will be looking to pick up its first win — or wins — of the season this weekend at the Binghamton Invitational. The Red will face Farleigh Dickinson this afternoon, with two matches against Towson and Binghamton tomorrow morning and evening. The tournament will take place just down the hill in Vestal, N.Y.

“This weekend being at Binghamton gives us another opportunity to see some competition,” said head coach Sarah Bernson in an interview with the university. “[We will] see where we’ve improved upon from last week and continue to give us benchmarks for our own development as a team.”

While a lot has changed for the volleyball team, following the Red’s first tournament of the 2009 season, it seems that a lot has also stayed the same. With a new head coach and seven freshmen on the roster, Cornell had a nearly identical start to the season as it did last year, going 0-3 in it’s first tournament, with a 1-9 set record. The lone win came in the opening set against host George Mason, a victory sandwiched between 3-0 shutouts against Morehead State and Kent State at the Patriot Invitational.

For the first time ever, Cornell and the rest of the Ivy League will open their non-conference schedules just one week behind the rest of the NCAA, rather than facing the typical two-weekend delay. That’s not the only new thing for Cornell volleyball this season; in addition to welcoming seven freshmen to the squad, Sarah Bernson will debut today as the ninth Wendy Schaenen ’79 Head Coach of Volleyball.

The Red is set to play its first match of the season later today against Morehead State. The team will take on host George Mason and Kent State tomorrow to round out its stay at the Patriot Classic. Just a few short months on the job and Bernson is already excited for the team to get a quick start to the non-conference schedule.

As the start of the volleyball preseason looms on the horizon, the Red has been working since the thursday of Orientation Week to make sure its senior leadership and its influx of new blood are combining together as smoothly as possible. This year, the freshmen will outnumber the seniors seven to three, rookie head coach Sarah Bernson is looking to hit the ground running, and the team will be starting its season an entire week earlier than in previous years. No one can say that the season will be lacking in excitement.

Following a five-year stint as the Red’s assistant coach, Bernson took over the top spot this year following the departure of former head coach Deitre Collins-Parker for a head coaching position at Sand Diego State.

Sarah Bernson, Wendy Schaenen ’79 Head Coach of Volleyball

An office stands vacant today in Bartels Hall, as the Red bade a final goodbye yesterday to a highly decorated coach — and an award-winning athlete in her own right — Deitre Collins-Parker, the Wendy Schaenen ’79 head coach of Cornell volleyball. Collins-Parker’s last full day was yesterday, and she will soon be flying cross country in order to settle into her new position, as head coach of San Diego State. We'll miss you: Head coach Deitre Collins-Parker rallies her troops during a 3-0 loss to Penn on Oct. 27.

The volleyball team’s highly decorated head coach, Deitre Collins-Parker, added another award to her resume yesterday after being selected to receive the NCAA Silver Anniversary Award. Collins-Parker was presented with the award during the NCAA Honors and Delegates Celebration during the 2009 NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C.

The Silver Anniversary Award honors former student-athletes who both succeeded in collegiate careers in various sports and have also excelled in their chosen profession 25 years after completing their athletics eligibility.

Collins-Parker was a star volleyball player at the University of Hawaii and also played varsity basketball. She was a two-time collegiate player of the year and led her alma mater to back-to-back national championships in 1982 and 1983.