CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Jennifer Weiss, the Head Coach for Harvard Women's Volleyball, has hired Crimson volleyball alum Christina Cornelius '19 to join her staff as an assistant coach for the 2023 season. Weiss is thrilled to have a previous player join the team and is excited for the energy and experience she will bring with her in her return to Cambridge.
 
"I am so excited to have Christina join our coaching staff. Having her back in Cambridge and a part of the program is going to be awesome. I know she will be a great role model for our current student-athletes and will lead by example on and off the court. She has the experience, confidence and composure to step into the coaching role," Weiss says of her new hire.  

Cornelius cannot wait to return to Cambridge and is excited to get to work with today's student-athletes. "Being a part of the Harvard Women's Volleyball coaching staff is a true full circle moment for me. This team helped shape me into the person I am today, and I am thrilled to now have the opportunity to contribute to the development of these talented young women, both as student-athletes and as individuals. It feels amazing to give back to the program that gave so much to me, and I am so excited to reunite with Coach Weiss and see what great things we do this season!" 
 
She will join the Crimson in her first assistant coach role in collegiate athletics after service as an assistant coach at the Mizuno Long Beach Volleyball Club in Long Beach, California since June of 2021. She coached alongside the club director, working with volleyball players up to 18 years of age to teach them volleyball techniques and skills.
 
A 2019 graduate with a concentration in sociology and a secondary in African American studies, Cornelius captained the Harvard volleyball team her junior and senior years. She won the Mary G. Paget Prize in 2019, an award established to honor the senior student who has contributed the most to women's athletics at Harvard. She also served on the Harvard faculty standing committee on athletics and was a part of the Association of Black Women.

On the court, Cornelius was named the 2015 Ivy League Rookie of the Year and went on to be named First Team All-Ivy all four years of her time with the Crimson (2015-18). A middle blocker, she is the Harvard record holder for single season block assists with 112 and ranks second in program history in total blocks with 133. In her first year at Harvard, the team tied for first in the Ivy League.

Cornelius joins Nick Clark on Weiss' staff as an assistant coach for the 2023-24 season.