Ness, who owns three of the top four season win totals in Cornell softball, enters her fifth year as the Rams' head coach.
Ness has compiled a 66-76-1 record on the Hilltop while reaching the 18-win mark in each of the last three seasons. Ness' 55 wins since 2008 are the most over a three-year period in school history.
Ness guided the 2010 squad to an 18-19-1 overall mark with eight starters projected to return this spring. The Rams established a school record for fielding percentage (.948) and landed two all-Iowa Conference performers.
Ness' 2009 Rams established a school record for wins in a season with a 19-20 mark. Cornell set single-season team records for at-bats (1,084), runs (235), hits (350), doubles (71), home runs (29), RBIs (203) and pitching strikeouts (191). The Rams landed three players on the all-IIAC teams for the first time since joining the league in 1998.
Ness led the Rams to a breakout 2008 campaign, which culminated with the program's first appearance in the IIAC Tournament. That squad finished 18-17 and secured Cornell's first winning season in 15 years, nearly reversing its 11-20 mark in Ness' first season in 2007.
Prior to landing at Cornell, Ness compiled 164 wins in eight seasons at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn. After going 9-20 in her initial season, Ness turned around a program that would post five consecutive 20-win seasons and one conference championship. Ness was named Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2003.
Ness earned a bachelor of science degree in health, physical education and recreation from Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D., in 1993. She received a master of arts degree in teaching from Northern State in 1994. From 1994-97, Ness coached and taught at Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, S.D., where she started the softball program.
From 1997-2005, Ness coached and taught at Gustavus Adolphus. Ness was Assistant Athletic Director at Camp Laurel in Readfield, Maine, during the summer of 2005 before taking the job as Recreation Coordinator for the city of Waterville (Maine) in August 2005.
Ness has been an assistant volleyball coach at Cornell the past two years and held similar positions at Dakota Wesleyan and Gustavus Adolphus. Ness has 10 years of experience as an instructor for physical education and health science courses.
Ness was voted Cornell's Female Coach of the Year for the 2007-08 season. She also is in her fourth year as Senior Women's Administrator at Cornell.
