Women's Volleyball 2015 Ivy League Championship Retrospective
11/12/2020
Since the inception of Ivy League athletics in 1954, no team in any sport had won a conference championship after starting 0-3 in conference play. That changed in 2015 thanks to the Princeton University women’s volleyball team.
After falling into an 0-3 hole early in the season, the Tigers would go 10-1 in their remaining conference matches culminating in a heart-stopping 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 29-27, 26-24) triumph at Columbia University Saturday, November 14 2015 that clinched a share of the Ivy League championship with Harvard University.
While Princeton went into the season with high hopes, things were looking grim following the team's rocky start. Head coach Sabrina King knew the importance of keeping the team’s spirits high through the adversity and recalls some of the conversations she had with the team.
“I told them knew in my heart you’re better than your performing,” said King. “Let’s play every match as its own entity and don’t worry about the outcome of the whole season."
Don’t put the pressure of the whole season on every match, play every set, every point. Live in the now, be in the now and focus on the process.Sabrina King
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— PrincetonVolley (@PrincetonVolley) November 9, 2020
Kendall Peterkin '15 reflects on our historic 2015 @IvyLeague championship as we approach its five-year anniversary. pic.twitter.com/lGXrcoB7sz
King’s words of wisdom paid off as the Tigers would snap their three-match skid with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-23, 25-19) win over Columbia on Friday, October 9 2014. From there, Princeton would only lose only one conference match on route to clinching a share of the conference championship.
“It felt like something special was going on the back half of the season,” said King. “The momentum was shifting and the team just started clicking, you could feel a total shift. Our swagger was back, our confidence was back and it was like yeah, we have this confidence, but we have to grind every day because we have this deficit we have to dig out of. It was a really cool thing to hear and speaks volumes to their tenacity and ability to bounce back. Their resilience and their belief in one another was incredible."
The mindset of taking things one step at a time paid dividends for the team.
“I could say a million nice things about Sab,” said Cara Mattaliano ‘16. “It’s rare to have a volleyball coach who knows the game that well but doesn’t get caught up in it as much and let her emotions get put forth into the huddle."
She never once looked at us and said we were never going to win this thing, she kept a level head the entire time. It was crucial during that season.Cara Mattaliano '16
Princeton's mindset shift was evident to all who were watching and was key to turning it season around.
“There was a true shift in the way we played from the point we decided we were the underdogs and were going to fight like we were, instead of being nervous about going into every game,” said Mattaliano. “It was the whole team’s mindset that changed. We started truly playing together; we started doing this thing where if a ball dropped and nobody had dived for it yet, all six players would dive on the floor after, which admittedly looked strange to everyone watching.”
Along with King’s guidance, the Tigers received a helping hand from a special guest, former women’s swimming head coach Susan Teeter.
“I was chatting with her at a staff meeting and she asked how the team was doing and I told her not so well,” explained King. “She asked if I wanted her to talk to the team. I didn’t know Susan Teeter well, but I knew she had so much success and was highly-regarded as a culture-builder.”
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— PrincetonVolley (@PrincetonVolley) November 11, 2020
As we approach its five-year anniversary, Cara Mattaliano '16 & head coach Sabrina King reflect on how former @PUCSDT women's head coach Susan Teeter played a role in the team's mindset shift during its historic 2015 @IvyLeague title run. pic.twitter.com/hBy4A4OQ3K
Along with the Tigers’ historic championship, there was another accomplishment that was extra-memorable.
“One thing I really associated with that year was that we beat Yale,” said Kendall Peterkin ‘15. “Freshman through junior year we never once beat them, we played them at least six times. Being able to beat them at home in Dillon, could have been the best part of that whole thing. After winning the championship, it was the second-best thing.”
When it was all said and done, Mattaliano was named Ivy League Player of the Year and King Ivy League Co-Coach of the Year. Mattaliano and Peterkin earned All-Ivy first team honors while Brittany Ptak and Claire Nussbaum were named to the second team.
Since 2015, the Tigers have gone on to win three more Ivy League titles. Peterkin and the 2015 team take pride in having helped kick-start an era of excellence for Princeton women’s volleyball.
It’s amazing. I would just like to say what the team has accomplished after I graduated, three more championships, to be able to start that upward trajectory, even if I only participated in one of them, knowing we set the pace for that to happen, that makes me feel really good.Kendall Peterkin '15
