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Saturday, September 27
New Haven, Conn.
5 p.m.
Brown University
at
Yale
Volleyball Begins Ivy League Play at Yale on Saturday
9/26/2025 11:15:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown volleyball kicks off Ivy League play with a trip to Yale on Saturday (Sept. 27). First serve is set for 5 p.m. and the match will be streamed on ESPN+.
GAME LINKS
at Yale | 5 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats
FIRST SERVE
The Brown University Sports Foundation (BUSF) is the backbone of our athletics program, playing a crucial role in enhancing the student-athlete experience. This is possible through philanthropic support from our alumni, parents, fans, and friends. Your gift through the Sports Foundation can immediately impact today's Brown Bears, helping them excel in the classroom, in competition, and, most importantly, in the community. Please click here to learn more about how you can support the Bears.
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GAME LINKS
at Yale | 5 p.m.
Watch | Live Stats
FIRST SERVE
- Brown finished non-conference play going 2-1 at UConn last weekend with wins over Sacred Heart and Marist. Sophia Wolfson had a career-weekend, collecting 12 blocks against both Sacred Heart and Marist. Wolfson became the second Bear in program history to have 12 blocks in two matches in a season with the last time coming in 1996.
- The Bears will be looking to break a nine-match losing streak to the Bulldogs as Brown has not beaten Yale since a five-set win in New Haven in 2021. Brown lost in the Ivy League Tournament to the Bulldogs in both 2022 and 2023.
- Masha Sidorova leads Brown with 3.42 kills per set, followed by Sophia Wolfson (2.74) and Ally Panzloff 2.68). The offense is ran through Julia Kakkis, who is averaging 9.48 assists per set.
- On defense, Jessie Golden leads the team with 4.35 digs per set and Sophia Wolfson is leading the net defense with 1.52 blocks per set.
- Wolfson's 1.52 blocks per set has her sitting in 14th in the NCAA and second in the Ivy League.
- Golden is 54th in the NCAA and second in the ivy League in digs per set (4.35)
- Julia Kakkis is third in the Ivy League and 61st in the NCAA with 9.48 assists per set.
- Yale comes into the weekend with a 4-4 record. The Bulldogs earned a five-set win over UC San Diego and a sweep over San Diego State last weekend.
- Ava Poinsett leads Yale with 3.15 kills per set and three other Bulldogs are averaging at least 2.00 kills per set. Bethanie Wu leads the offense with 9.70 assists per set.
- Yale's hitting percentage (.259) is second in the Ivy League and 53rd in the NCAA.
- Brown is 25-57 all-time against Yale and have lost the last nine meetings with the Bulldogs. Brown's last win in the series came on Sept. 24, 2021 in New Haven when the Bears won in three sets.
- Jessie Golden led the Ivy League digs with 4.16 digs per set in the regular season and increasing that number to 4.41 digs per set during Ivy League play. Golden finished the year with 22 matches of double-figure digs and had six matches with at least 20 digs.
- Masha Sidorova finished third in the Ivy League with 3.82 kills per set during league play and was second on the team with 2.07 digs per set for the season. The junior led Brown with 21 double-figure kill games and led Brown with nine double-doubles. Sidorova also had four matches with 20+ kills, including a career-high 26 against Princeton. In all four matches with 20 or more kills, Sidorova hit over .300.
- Julia Kakkis shined in her first season at Brown taking over setting duties halfway through the season. Kakkis averaged 8.95 assists per set and finished the season with five-straight 40+ assist matches. The freshman picked up a career-high 53 assists against Princeton on Nov. 3 and finished the year on a 15-match streak of at least 10 assists.
- Brown will have to get used to being away from home as the Bears will play their first 14 games away from the Pizzitola Sports Center. The Bears will play their first five Ivy League games away from home before taking on Harvard on Oct. 17.
- Jessie Golden was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year for the second-straight season. The Tampa, Fla., native, as well as former Bear Victoria Vo have combined to give Brown three of the last four Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year honors.
- Golden reached 1,000-career digs last season and currently has 1,228 digs. Golden is just 204 digs away from moving into third all-time in Brown program history.
- Golden comes into her senior year with a career 4.06 digs per set number. That number would be third all-time in program history. Golden has finished with a higher digs per set number than 4.06 in each of her last two seasons.
- Sophomore Julia Kakkis took control of Brown's offense when the freshman setter took over the spot at the beginning of Ivy League play last season. Kakkis finished the year with 8.81 assists per set and earned Honorable Mention Ivy League honors in her first year on College Hill.
- Kakkis finished the year with 16-straight matches of double-figure assists and had a season-best 53 assists against Princeton.
- Brown will be playing on ESPNU for the second-straight season as the Bears will host Princeton on national TV on Nov. 2 at 12 p.m. Last year Brown and Princeton also played on ESPNU in Providence with Princeton coming away with a five-set win.
- Brown has now posted four-straight seasons with winning records in Ivy League play after finished 8-6 last season. Brown's tied its longest stretch of winning league records as Brown was over .500 from 1987-90. The Bears posted a .500 record or better from 1983-90.
- Brown's 11 wins last season made it six-straight seasons of double-digit wins for Brown. The last time Brown had seven-straight double-digit win seasons came from 1996-2002.
- Brown made its first trip to Florida since 2018, when the Bears made the trip to Stetson for a three-game tournament. During the trip to UCF, Brown pulled off a four-set win over the host Knights, giving Brown its first win over a Power 4 team under Taylor Virtue and first win over a current Power 4 team since beating Boston College in 1997.
- Brown sophomore Sophia Wolfson got off to a hot start at the Ocean State Cup, taking over as Brown's starting middle. Wolfson finished with double-digit kills in two matches, including a career-high 14 against URI. Wolfson also hit .500 or higher in two matches, hitting .625 against Bryant. For her efforts, Wolfson was named to the Ocean State Cup All-Tournament Team.
- Things got better for Wolfson over Brown's trip to UConn as the sophomore put on a career performance in wins over Sacred Heart and Marist. Wolfson finished with 12 blocks in both a three-set win against the Pioneers and a four-set win against the Red Foxes.
- It marks just the second time in program history that a Bear has had 12+ blocks in back-to-back matches with the last time being Leyla Goldsmith in 1996 against Columbia and Cornell.
- Sophia Wolfson has already hit over .500 in five of Brown's nine matches this season, including a season-best .625 against Bryant. All five of those matches have come with double-figure kills, the lowest a 10-kill performance in Brown's win over UCF (Sept. 14).
- The last Bear to have at least five matches with over a .500 hitting percentage (min. 10 attacks) was Beau Vanderlaan, who did it seven times back in 2023. Vanderlaan also had five matches of over .500 hitting and double-figure kills during the season.
- Senior Masha Sidorova has been piling up the kills for the Bears this season, having led the team in kills in six of the nine matches this season. Sidorova leads Brown with 3.42 kills per set and was the first Bear to hit the 100-kill mark this year.
- Sidorova picked up back-to-back double-digit kills for the first time this season last weekend, including a season-high 17 against Marist. The senior now has 37 double-figure kill matches in her career.
- Brown begins its ivy League season taking on Yale and Princeton in its first two matches of the schedule. These two teams, along with Brown are the only three teams to make every Ivy League Tournament. Brown has struggled against Princeton and Yale the last three seasons with the Bears going 0-6 against both Yale and Princeton in the regular seasons. The Bears are a combined 27-3 against the other five Ivy League schools.
- During the Ivy League Tournament, Brown is 2-1 all-time against Princeton, with all three meetings coming in the semifinal. Brown lost both the 2022 and 2023 Ivy League Tournament final to Yale.
- Brown has had five players earn All-Tournament honors throughout preseason play.
- In the first weekend, Sophia Wolfson and Julia Kakkis were named to the Ocean State Cup All-Tournament Team.
- Jessie Golden earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team in the second weekend of the season at UCF.
- Wolfson and Ally Panzloff earned All-Tournament Honors at UConn.
The Brown University Sports Foundation (BUSF) is the backbone of our athletics program, playing a crucial role in enhancing the student-athlete experience. This is possible through philanthropic support from our alumni, parents, fans, and friends. Your gift through the Sports Foundation can immediately impact today's Brown Bears, helping them excel in the classroom, in competition, and, most importantly, in the community. Please click here to learn more about how you can support the Bears.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
For the latest on Brown Athletics, please follow @BrownU_Bears on X and @BrownU_Bears on Instagram. Like BrownUBears on Facebook and subscribe to the BrownAthletics YouTube channel.
Players Mentioned
L/DS
/ Women's Volleyball
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/ Women's Volleyball
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/ Women's Volleyball
MB
/ Women's Volleyball
L/DS
/ Women's Volleyball
MB
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