NET GAIN: Members of the Princeton High girls’ volleyball team were all smiles as they posed for a team shot earlier this fall. PHS made big strides this season, posting a 17-5 record after going 4-12 in 2015. The Little Tigers won the Spiketoberfest WJIVL (West Jersey Interscholastic Volleyball League) tourney and made its first ever experience in the public state tournament along the way. Pictured in the front row, kneeling from left to right, are Kim Cheng, Nicole Barrales, Annie Sullivan-Crowley, Rachel Cheng. In the middle row, from left, are Siyang Liu, Natalia Drobnjak, Amanda Rubin, and Alexandra Garthe. In the back row, from left, are head coach Patty Manhart, Lucia Firbas, Alexandra Colón, Nancy Gray, Anna Cao, Noa Levy, Gill Hauschild, Sara Vigiano, and assistant coach Erin Gannon.

Patty Manhart was satisfied to see her Princeton High girls’ volleyball team make incremental progress in its first two seasons as a varsity program.

“My message during our years of development is that we take our small victories, what did you individually do better today that you didn’t do well the last game,” said PHS head coach Manhart, a former women’s volleyball player at FDU who has been guiding the PHS program since it started as a club team in the fall of 2013.

“How we grew as a team did not translate into wins. We had to have the mentality of are you having a good time. That was a victory.”

This fall, that progress translated into wins as PHS posted a record of 17-5, winning the Spiketoberfest WJIVL (West Jersey Interscholastic Volleyball League) tourney and making its first ever experience in the public state tournament.

“Just the girls being able to switch into the competitive mode and fully embrace the added pressure of being a winning program was a big positive,” said Manhart, noting that the Little Tigers went 4-12 in 2015.

“The girls were able to push into — we need to hone our skills. We needed to make sure that we are always practicing competitively and pushing one another. We needed to be able to play in high pressure situations because the games that we won against tough teams were all close matches. We didn’t have the luxury of blowing out those other competitors.”

In Manhart’s view, the team’s success even took the players by surprise. “I do think that we didn’t see what was coming, we built our confidence over time,” said Manhart.

“It took the first win against WW/P-S about midway through the season, that was the turning point. It took some time to develop some confidence. I don’t think we predicted the outcome at the beginning of the season.”

Winning the Spiketoberfest in late October was another key step forward for the program.

“It is the league tournament, that is our MCT; we don’t have a Mercer County tournament,” said Manhart.

“We combine with Mercer County and Burlington schools in this 14-team division for these playoffs that are all on a single day. It is a double elimination bracket so they have two brackets going. We had to win as a 4-5 seed, which was frustrating to me, but we were able to play through it. We stayed undefeated for the day, we beat WW/P-S in the finals so it worked to our advantage at the end of the day. It was good for our girls.”

The play of junior Anna Cao gave PHS a lot of good work this fall, leading the team with 136 kills.

“Anna is outstanding,” said Manhart. “Last year because of her height, she played middle and this year we moved her to the outside. She gets a lot more sets in that position; she also plays really great defense. A lot of the girls might play only back row or only front row. Anna stays in for the whole rotation.”

Another junior, Rachel Cheng, helped trigger things for the Little Tigers, piling up 277 assists.

“Rachel is our setter, that is like the quarterback of our team,” said Manhart.

“She is a solid individual, she is reliable. She is a leader and that really helps us mesh and jell.”

Senior Noa Levy emerged as a solid performer this fall, with 40 kills and 11 aces.

“Noa Levy has been on the team since freshman year and this sport was brand new to her,” said Manhart.

“She is 6’1 and is going to Lehigh to do track for the heptathlon. Because of her height, growing up people asked her if she played volleyball. She never really had the opportunity so she came in as a freshman with the height but no playing experience. She is someone who has developed this year as a blocker. She is so much stronger and as a hitter, the power behind her swing really clicked this year.”

Although things didn’t click in the state tourney as 20th seeded PHS fell 2-0 to 13th-seeded Clifton in the opening round of Group 4 competition, Manhart believes the program will benefit from the experience.

“That is where the bar is set for next year so OK we made it and next year we expect to go further than playing the one time,” said Manhart.

PHS is expecting big things next season. “It is nice getting a core group of underclassmen returning, they also set a good example for a lot of the new girls who are playing on JV and playing the sport for the first time,” said Manhart.

“They put in the work in the offseason. They know what it takes, they have a love of the sport that spreads to their teammates. A lot of the younger players went out for clubs this year and are going to have the chance to keep working at it. They know where the bar is coming into the season so that is a good mentality to have.”