ITHACA, N.Y. -- The Cornell volleyball team opens its 2022 season this weekend at the Kent State Invitational with a three-match slate against opponents Oakland, Kent State, and Southern Indiana.

Game Information

Cornell vs. Oakland
SITE: Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center – Kent, Ohio
DATE and TIME: Friday, September 2 @ 4PM
RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League), Oakland (1-2, 0-0 Horizon)
SERIES RECORD: Oakland leads, 2-0
BROADCAST: Boxcast
STATS: kentstatesports.com

Cornell at Kent State
SITE: Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center – Kent, Ohio
DATE and TIME: Saturday, September 3 @ 10AM
RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League), Kent State (2-1, 0-0 MAC)
SERIES RECORD: Kent State leads, 4-0
BROADCAST: Boxcast
STATS: kentstatesports.com
 
Cornell vs. Southern Indiana
SITE: Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center – Kent, Ohio
DATE and TIME: Saturday, September 3 @ 4PM
RECORDS: Cornell (0-0, 0-0 Ivy League), Southern Indiana (0-3, 0-0 OVC)
SERIES RECORD: Never Competed
BROADCAST: Boxcast
STATS: kentstatesports.com
 
 

About the Big Red

• 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 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 just two seasons, she already ranks 14th in Cornell history in career assists and ninth in assists per set with 7.06.
 

Out Of The Gates

• Cornell has gone 2-1 in opening tournaments since 2015, with the exception of 2017 when the team dropped two matches at the Tropical Smoothie Invitational hosted by James Madison.
 
• A 3-0 weekend would mark the first opening weekend sweep since 2000 and the first three-win opening tournament since going 3-1 at the Portland Tournament in 2006.
 

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. Oakland:

• Friday's match between the Big Red and the Golden Grizzlies will be the third meeting between the two schools, with Oakland leading the all-time series 2-0.
•  Oakland defeated Cornell, 3-1, the last time the two teams met in Lewisburg, Pa. at the Bucknell Invitational on Sept. 17, 2016.
• Oakland went 15-15 in the 2021, incuding 9-9 in the Horizon League.
• The Golden Grizzlies opened its season at 1-2 after defeating Akron in five at the Top Dawg Challenge, where it also fell to Eastern Illinois and host-team Butler.
 

at Kent State:

• The Saturday matchup will be the fifth meeting all-time for the Big Red and the Golden Flashes with Kent State leading the series 4-0.
• The Big Red last faced Kent State on September 5, 2009 and lost 3-0 at the Patriot Invitational.
• The Golden Flashes finished their 2021 season at 12-18 overall, and 7-11 in the MAC.
• Kent State opened its season at 2-1 after defeating Albany and Robert Morris in four sets each at the JMU Invitational, where they dropped a match to host-team James Madison.

vs. Southern Indiana:

• The Big Red have never faced off against the Screaming Eagles.
• Southern Indiana had an 18-13 record last year, a season that concluded with a three-set loss to University of Missouri-St. Louis in the 2021 GLVC Volleyball Championship semifinal
• This season marks the first year the Screaming Eagles will compete at the NCAA Division I level, after competing at the Division II level since 1965.
•   Southern Indiana opened their season at 0-3 after dropping two matches to Murray State and one to the University of Evansville.
 

Up Next

• The Big Red will open its home slate when it hosts the Cornell Invitational on Sept. 9-10. Cornell will take on Colgate on Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. before playing a pair of matches first against Albany at 11 a.m. and closing the tournament against Temple at 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 at Newman Arena in Ithaca, N.Y.