ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell volleyball team prepares to square off against Ivy opponent Columbia. Each team is in search of its second conference win.

Game Information

Cornell vs. Columbia
SITE: Schiller Court at Levien Gymnasium – Ithaca, N.Y.
DATE and TIME: Saturday, October 22 @ 2:00 PM
RECORDS: Cornell (3-13, 1-6 Ivy League), Columbia (4-12, 1-6 Ivy)
SERIES RECORD: Cornell leads, 57-15
BROADCAST: ESPN+
STATS: cornellbigred.com
 

About the Big Red

• The Big Red are searching for their first conference road win.
 
• Cornell's Ivy victory comes from a 3-1 win over Columbia in the opening week of conference play.
 
• Cornell is coming off a 7-15 season in 2021, including a 3-11 record in the Ivy League.

• In the three prior seasons, the Big Red finished in the top three in the conference. In 2021, the team was selected to finish third, but lost 12 of the final 15 matches of the season, leading to a seventh-place finish.

• The Big Red return 12 players from last year's roster, including senior Joanna Chang who notched 149 kills across 19 matches last season. She also recorded 16 aces and 17 blocks. Setter Emma Worthington returns after serving as the team's primary setter while leading the squad in assists (562) in 2021. After opening weekend, she moved from 14^th to 12^th all time, boasting 1,179 assists in just over two seasons. She then moved to 11th all-time after a five-set battle against Penn, where she tallied a career high 54 assists. She currently boasts 1,595 assists to date.
 

Critically Acclaimed

• Freshman Eliza Konvicka received Ivy League honors after her first weekend of collegiate play. She was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Week after tallying 28 kills, three assists, four aces, six blocks, and 25 digs across the weekend at Kent State. She ranks sixth in the Ivy League in kills per set with 3.02 and kills with 163.
 
• Cornell is one of only two schools in the Ivy League to have more than one player in the top-10 in hitting percentage. Sophomore Sammie Engle ranks second with a .375 and sophomore Camryn Carlo ranks tenth with a .313. Princeton is the only other school with multiple representatives in the top-10.
 
• Senior Emma Worthington ranks third in the Ivy league in assists per set, averaging 9.00. Princeton's Lindsey Kelly leads the league and the nation with 11.71 per set. Worthington also takes third in assists among Ivy players with 522.
 
• Cornell ranks 24th nationally and third in the Ivy in aces per set with 1.86.
 

Ivy League Preseason Poll

• Cornell was picked to finish seventh in the 2022 Ivy League Volleyball Preseason Poll the conference office announced on August 26.

• Brown received 14 of the 16 possible first-place votes, finishing with an Ivy League-best 126 points. Princeton recorded the two remaining first-place votes, placing second with 110 points. Yale rounded out the top three with 89 points.

• Harvard (73 points), Dartmouth (70 points) and Penn (52 points) were picked fourth through sixth, respectively, while the Big Red earned 33 points, and Columbia ended with 23.
 

Head Coach Trudy Vande Berg

• The 2022 season marks Vande Berg's eighth year as The Wendy Schaenen '79 Head Coach of Volleyball. It marks her seventh season as the 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Vande Berg has shaped the Big Red into a team that perennially finishes in the top tier of the Ivy League, finishing third in the conference in three consecutive seasons from 2017-19. The span of three straight third-place Ivy League finishes marks the best seasons for the Big Red since the team won three conference titles followed by a second-place finish from 2003-06.
 

Worldwide

• Cornell has found talent across the globe to fill the roster. Players come from 13 different states/provinces.

• Ohio is the most represented state with three players from the Buckeye State. California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas are all represented by two athletes.

• Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Virginia are all host one player on the roster.
 
• Doga Ozalp hails from Istabul, Turkey and is one of just nine athletes from outside of the 50 states in 50 years of volleyball at Cornell.
 

vs. Columbia:

• The Saturday matchup will be 73rd meeting between the Big Red and the Lions.
• Cornell has won eight of the last 10 meetnings, including a 3-1 win at home to open Ivy play this season.
• The Lions went 5-19 in the 2021 season, including a 2-12 record in Ivy play. Columbia was the only team to finish below Cornell in the Ivy League last season.
• Columbia is in search of it's first home Ivy win. The lone conference victory came from a 3-1 victory at Penn.
 

Up Next

• Following this weekend, the Big Red stay on the road to face Yale on Friday, October 28 at 7 p.m., followed by a Sunday match at Brown with a first serve set for 5 p.m. The matches will be streamed on ESPN+.