Clarkson University Student Kristen Orlandini of Fairport to Compete for NCAA National Volleyball Championship

2012 Nov 13

Kristen Orlandini of Fairport, N.Y., a member of the Clarkson University volleyball team, helped lead the Golden Knights to the NCAA Division III Volleyball Quarterfinals this weekend to be held at Hope College in Holland, Mich.

Orlandini, a sophomore defensive specialist, majoring in biology, is one of 12 members of the Golden Knights volleyball squad. Of the well over 400 NCAA Division III volleyball programs in the country, only eight remain in the hunt for a national championship, and for the first time ever Clarkson University is among the ultimate elite challenging for the title.

This past weekend, the Golden Knights hosted the NCAA Division III New York Regionals for the second straight year and this time emerged from the pack with wins over Nazareth (3-1), Middlebury (3-1), and New Paltz (3-2).

Clarkson's 31 victories this season are a program-record, surpassing the 29 wins reached in both the 2009 and 2011 seasons. The Golden Knights have also already clinched a program mark for highest winning percentage in a season.

Clarkson University launches leaders into the global economy. One in five alumni already leads as a CEO, VP or equivalent senior executive of a company. Located just outside the Adirondack Park in Potsdam, N.Y., Clarkson is a nationally recognized research university for undergraduates with select graduate programs in signature areas of academic excellence directed toward the world's pressing issues. Through 50 rigorous programs of study in engineering, business, arts, sciences and health sciences, the entire learning-living community spans boundaries across disciplines, nations and cultures to build powers of observation, challenge the status quo, and connect discovery and engineering innovation with enterprise. Of the 1,003 universities in Payscale's College Salary Report, Clarkson graduates have the seventeenth highest starting salaries.