
Volleyball Season Preview
8/30/2022
The Brown volleyball team will be looking to repeat as Ivy League Champions after winning the conference title last season for the first time since 2001. Reigning Ivy League Coach of the Year Ahen Kim's squad will be looking to win back-to-back league titles since 1998-99.
“Last year's team was good. This year's team needs a new identity to prepare for this year's unique challenges,” said Kim. “If we can learn to love preparing for challenging endeavors, I believe we will compete well in the league.”

Key Returners
The Bears are returning the almost all of their production from a season ago. Brown returns over 99 percent of its kills from last year, 98 percent of its assists and 94 percent of its digs.
Junior setter Cierra Jenkins returns after being named Ivy League Player of the Year in 2021, guiding the Bears' offense with 9.99 assists per set, which was good for third in the league. Jenkins became the first Bear to earn All-American honors, being tabbed AVCA All-American Honorable Mention. The Orlando, Fla., native was second in the Ivy League with 10.47 assists per set during Ivy League play and was second on the team with 3.10 digs per set. Jenkins had at least 21 assists in every match and had 13 matches with at least 30 assists, leading the team with 13 double-doubles.
Sophomore Beau Vanderlaan was unanimously named Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season and earned First Team All-Ivy Honors, holding down the middle of the court for the Bears. Vanderlaan led the Ivy League and tied a Brown program record with a .390 hitting percentage. She was seventh in the league with 1.02 blocks per set. During Ivy League play, Vanderlaan was second in hitting percentage (.410), third in blocks (1.18) and 10th in kills (2.84).
Sophomore libero Victoria Vo earned unanimous Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year honors after leading the league with 5.22 digs per set during Ivy League play. The First Team All-Ivy selection led Brown with 4.62 digs per set on the season and was tops on the team with 24 service aces.
Senior Sophia Miller returns after being named First Team All-Ivy last season. As a junior, Miller earned Ivy League Player of the Week three times during the season. Miller led the Bears and finished fifth in the Ivy League with 3.22 kills per set and led the Bears with 3.67 points per set. She finished third on the team with 2.69 digs per set.
Junior Kate Sheire was the fifth Bear to be named First Team All-Ivy after finishing second on the team and sixth in the Ivy League with 3.11 kills per set. Sheire was third in the Ivy League during league play with 3.49 kills per set. The Arlington, Va., native was second on the team in both hitting percentage (.287) and bocks (82).

Nonconference Breakdown
The Bears will play nine nonconference opponents this season, including two Ocean State foes. Brown begins the season hosting a tournament that starts with a matchup against Rhode Island on Sept. 2. The Bears will continue their home tournament against Air Force and Siena on Sept. 3. The lone midweek matchup for Brown will be at Bryant on Sept. 6.
Brown's two other nonconference tournaments will be at Rice (Sept. 9-10) and at UConn (Sept. 17). In Houston, Brown will face off against Rice, Texas Tech and Texas A&M Corpus Christi. The Bears will take on UConn and Lindenwood to close out nonconference play on Sept. 17.

Ivy League Season
Ivy League play opens for the Bears at home on September 23 with a matchup against Yale in a rematch of the only loss the Bears suffered during league play last season.
The Bears will then hit the road for their next four matches at Cornell (Sept. 30), Columbia (Oct. 1), Dartmouth (Oct. 7) and Harvard (Oct. 8). The first half of the Ivy League season will end with home matches against Penn (Oct. 14) and Princeton (Oct. 15).
In the second half of the Ivy League schedule, Brown will travel to Yale (Oct. 21), Princeton (Oct. 4) and Penn (Oct 5). The Bears will be at home against Columbia (Oct. 28), Cornell (Oct. 29), Harvard (Nov. 11) and Dartmouth (Nov. 12).
New this year, the Ivy League will have four-team tournament to decide the league champion and automatic NCAA qualifier. The tournament will run between Nov. 18-20 and will be hosted by the regular season champion.