ITHACA, N.Y. – After finishing among the top-three of the league in each of the last three seasons in which it competed, the Cornell volleyball team was chosen to finish third this year in the 2021 Ivy League Preseason Volleyball Poll, the conference announced Friday.
After splitting a share of the 2019 Ivy League volleyball crown, Yale and Princeton were selected first and second, respectively, in the preseason poll. Yale was chosen as the conference favorite with 122 points, receiving 10 of the 16 first place votes. Princeton totaled the remaining six first place votes, being selected second with 117 points.
Cornell's 96 points was good for third and created a distinct margin between fourth-place Brown, who received 69 points. Fifth-place Dartmouth (55 points), six-place Harvard (46 points), seventh-place Columbia (37 points), and eighth-place Penn (34 points) composed the remainder of the poll.
Now in her seventh season, Trudy Vande Berg, the Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach of Volleyball, has helped establish Cornell as a top-tier team in the Ivy League, as the Big Red finished third in three-straight years from 2017-19. Cornell has constantly improved over the last three seasons, culminating with its best campaign since 2006 in 2019 when it posted a 17-6 record, including an 8-4 mark in Ivy League play.
The Cornell roster will be filled with a mix of experience and fresh, new faces, as the Big Red returns two-time All-Ivy performer Jillienne Bennett, who garnered first team All-Ivy accolades in 2019. Senior outside hitter Madison Baptiste will also be back for Cornell after earning second team All-Ivy honors in 2019. Bennett and Baptiste will be just two of multiple leaders on the court that the 10 student-athletes making their collegiate debuts (six freshman, four sophomores) can look up to. In total, over half of the 17-woman Cornell roster will hit the floor for the Big Red for the first time this season.
The Big Red will open its season next weekend when it competes at the Crowne Plaza Albany – The Desmond Hotel Volleyball Classic, hosted by UAlbany. Cornell will take on St. John's on Friday, Sept. 3 at 4 p.m. before playing a pair of matches on Saturday, Sept. 4 against Colgate (11 a.m.) and host UAlbany (7 p.m.).
Ivy League Preseason Volleyball Poll
1. Yale – 122 (10)
2. Princeton – 117 (6)
3. Cornell – 96
4. Brown – 69
5. Dartmouth – 55
6. Harvard – 46
7. Columbia – 37
8. Penn – 34
