The women’s volleyball team is set to begin its 47th season with high hopes of competing for the Ivy League title.
In each of their past three seasons, the Red have finished third in the Ivy League rankings. In the Ivy League preseason poll, the Red were voted to finish third once again this season. Princeton, the reigning 2019 champions, and Yale were predicted to finish ahead of Cornell. The team hopes to defy expectations and end their season on top of the league.
In every year since their .500 season in 2016, the team has steadily improved under the leadership of head coach Trudy Vande Berg. In 2019, their last full season, the Red finished with a 17-6 record, including a dominant 11 game winning streak.
The team will welcome six new freshmen: Jackie Baker, Megan Bickel, Camryn Carlo, Brooke Cooper, Sammie Engel, and Jordan Quinones.
“Each student-athlete brings something that we will need to continue to compete at the top of the Ivy League and help us in our quest to get back atop the conference and return to the NCAA tournament,” said Vande Berg on the new freshmen additions.
The Red has not played a game in nearly two years due to the Ivy League’s pause on fall sports in 2020. However, with a combination of talented new faces and seasoned veterans, including seniors Jillienne Bennett, Madison Baptiste, Avery Hanan, and Casey Justus, the team hopes to jump right back into the new season without skipping a beat. Bennett will hope to build off her impressive 2019 campaign during which she earned first team All-Ivy honors.
Women’s volleyball will face their first opponent this Friday Sept. 3 at 4 pm against St. John’s in Albany, NY at the Desmond Hotel Volleyball Classic. The team starts Ivy League play on Saturday Sept. 25 against Columbia.