Friday, September 5
Yale at Villanova – 7 p.m. ET
Live Stats | Watch on YouTube

Saturday, September 6
Yale vs. High Point – 7 p.m. ET
Live Stats | Watch on YouTube

NEW HAVEN, Conn.  – The three-time defending Ivy League champion Yale volleyball team opens the 2025 season this weekend at the Villanova Classic. 

Defending Ivy Champs
The Bulldogs won their third straight Ivy League regular season and postseason tournament in 2024.  Yale finished with a record of 19-6 overall with a 12-2 conference mark.  After advancing to the NCAA Tournament, the Bulldogs took the first game off of North Carolina in the first round before falling in four sets. 

Unprecedented Success
Head coach Erin Appleman has guided the Bulldogs to an unprecedented 13 Ivy League titles, 10 NCAA Tournaments and six 20-plus win seasons since 2004.  Under Appleman, Yale became the first Ivy League women's volleyball program to win a NCAA Tournament match.  Appleman enters this season with a career mark 383-137 at Yale. 

All-Ivy Returners
The Bulldogs return four All-Ivy selections, including first-team member Betsy Goodenow who produced 10 or more kills in every match last season and was named Ivy League Tournament MVP after averaging 4.71 kills per set and hitting .561 in the tournament.   In addition, Yale welcomes back second team all-conference picks Laurece Abraham (who ranked third in the conference in hitting percentage) and Gigi Barr (who ranked fourth in the conference in hitting percentage).  Arya Jue (who averaged 3.67 digs per set) was named to the honorable mention team.    

Preseason Faves
Yale was selected to finish first in the official Ivy League preseason poll following a vote of communication contacts and members of the media.  The Bulldogs received nine of 16 first-place votes and 121 points overall.  Princeton was picked second, followed by Brown, Cornell, Penn, Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia.

Sherlock Named Captain
Senior Halle Sherlock was named team captain ahead of the upcoming season.  Sherlock last season played in 24 of Yale's 25 games, appearing in 85 sets for the Bulldogs and tallied 19 service aces. Sherlock has also excelled in the classroom, leading her to be Yale's Academic All-Ivy recipient in 2024.

Newcomers
Yale also welcomes first-years Yuri Park, Ava Poinsett, Naya Salfiti, and Gabriele Stasys.

Non-Conference Schedule
Yale opens the season on Friday with a road match at Villanova and then faces back-to-back opponents who qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season – High Point and Fairfield.  Yale kicks off its home schedule next Friday against in-state opponent UConn, who went 26-8 last season, followed by a home match against Northeastern the following night.  The Bulldogs will close out its out-of-conference schedule with three matches in San Diego, Calif., against San Diego, UC San Diego and San Diego State.   

Scouting Villanova
Friday will mark the third time in four seasons the Bulldogs and Wildcats will faceoff.  Yale won the last two meetings – with both matches going five sets.  Villanova started its season last weekend defeating Santa Clara and Norte Dame in South Bend, Ind.

Scouting High Point
Yale and High Point last squared off in 2023 in a match won by the Panthers.  High Point began its season last weekend and went 1-2 in a tournament hosted by BYU that included a win over FDU.