Princeton University Athletics
Women's Volleyball Facts & Figures
Ivy League Championships (20):Â 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2007, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2024
Ivy League Player of the Year (10): Kristi Hakman (1990), Kristin Spataro (1995), Sabrina King (1999), Parker Henritze (2007), Cara Mattaliano (2015), Cara Mattaliano (2016), Maggie O'Connell (2017), Lindsey Kelly (2022), Kamryn Chaney (2024)
Ivy League Rookie of the Year (8): Melanie Hunter (1991), Ayesha Attoh (1994), Michelle Buffum (1999), Kellie Cramm (2000), Parker Henritze (2005), Maggie O'Connell (2016), Lucia Scalamandre (2022), Sydney Draper (2023)
Ivy League Head Coach of the Year (1): Sabrina King (2015), Sabrina King (2016), Sabrina King (2019)
• Volleyball attained full varsity status in 1977 after a three-year apprenticeship as a club sport. Susana Occhi, who had coached the team while as a club program before 1977, guided the team to a victory over Kean College in its first official match (Sept. 28, 1977).
• The Ivy League championship was determined by a tournament held at the end of the season until double-round-robin play began in 2001. Round-robin league play did not begin until 1987, though the tournament still determined the champion through the 2000 season.
• Princeton teams won seven of the first 11 Ivy volleyball championships. The Tigers advanced to the Ivy League championship match every year from 1978 to 1987.
• The Princeton volleyball team was invited to postseason play, the EAIAW Tournament, four of its first five years as a varsity sport. In 1983, the Tigers hosted and won the ECAC Tournament.
• The 1984 team won 33 matches, which was a University record for most team wins in a season at that time.
• Kristi Hakman ’92 and Ayesha Attoh ’98 are two of only five players to achieve first-team All-Ivy honors four times since All-Ivy selections began in 1978. Of the 17 players to make the first team three times, six were Tigers: Janet Miller ’83 (1980-82), Michelle Williams ’84 (1981-83), Cindy Kendall ’86 (1983-85), Parker Henritze ’08 (2006-08), Lindsey Ensign ’08 (2006-08) and Lydia Rudnick (2010-12).
• The 1994 team went 7-0 in Ivy League play and won the league championship by virtue of its first-place finish at the Ivy League tournament. The team made its first appearance in the NCAA tournament that year, falling to UC Santa Barbara 3-0 in the first round. Since then, Princeton has played in four more NCAA tournament matches, though it has yet to win one. The Tigers won their first individual set in 2007, but fell 3-1 to Delaware.
• Glenn Nelson became Princeton’s all-time winningest coach on Nov. 9, 2007, when he led Princeton to a 3-0 win at Brown. That was his 560th win, eclipsing the previous record of 559 victories by longtime softball coach Cindy Cohen. Princeton also clinched its 14th Ivy League title that night and would go on to become the first Ivy team to win the league with a 14-0 record. He retired after the 2008 season with 580 victories.
• Parker Henritze became Princeton’s first player to ever win Rookie of the Year honors (2005) and Player of the Year honors (2007) in the same career. Maggie O'Connell became the second player to do so when she earned Player of the Year honors as a sophomore in 2017, one season after her 2016 Rookie of the Year season
• Kristin Spataro was named Ivy League Tournament MVP twice (1994, 1995). Other Princetonians to win the honor were Stephanie Edwards (1997) and Sabrina King (1999). The award was first handed out in 1991
• The 2015 team became the first in Ivy League history (any sport, male or female) to win the Ivy League title after starting the season with an 0-3 Ivy record. Princeton won 10 of the last 11 matches, including the final seven, to share the league title with Harvard. Sabrina King earned Ivy League Coach of the Year honors, while Cara Mattaliano was named the Player of the Year.
• The 2016 Tigers returned to the NCAA tournament for the first time in nine years after going 13-1 in the Ivy League. Cara Mattaliano became the first player in program history to win back-to-back Player of the Year honors, while Maggie O'Connell won Rookie of the Year. Sabrina King also repeated as the Ivy League Head Coach of the Year. Princeton won 26 straight sets at one point during the Ivy League season.
• The 2017 had a dramatic finish of its own; the Tigers trailed Yale by two matches with five to play, but they rallied to force a playoff in New Haven, and then swept Yale to return to the NCAA tournament. Maggie O'Connell was named the Ivy League Player of the Year following a brilliant sophomore season.
• In 2019 the Tigers shared the Ivy title with Yale, then advanced to the NCAA Tournament after defeating the Bulldogs in a playoff in front of a packed Dillon Gymnasium. Sabrina King was honored as Coach of the Year, Cameron Dames Ivy Defensive Player of the Year and Princeton earned six All-Ivy honors.Â
• Princeton reclaimed the Ivy League title in 2022, earning a share along with Yale. The Tigers defeated Big Ten opponent Rutgers, Big East opponent Seton Hall and saw Lindsey Kelly named Ivy Player of the Year, Cameron Dames Defensive Player of the Year and Lucia Scalamandre Newcomer of the Year.
• 2024 saw Princeton win the program's 20 th Ivy title, earning a share with Yale. The Tigers earned the No. 1 seed and hosting rights for the Ivy League Tournament, while Kamryn Chaney was named Ivy Player of the Year. A unanimous first selection, Sydney Draper and Lucia Scalamandre also collected All-Ivy honors and were named to the second team.