KINNELON — Kara (Crampton) Woodruff didn't think she'd be a volleyball player. Lacrosse was her main sport, and she'd already been talked into trying out for indoor track and field before her freshman year at Kinnelon High School even started.
But a chance meeting with Colts volleyball coach Stephanie Manco changed things. Woodruff's cousin, Krystina (Mongelli) McHugh, had been part of the original Kinnelon volleyball team when it launched in 2001. She knew Manco since middle-school softball clinics. Manco's daughter, Madison, was the flower girl in McHugh's wedding. So when Manco asked Woodruff to join the freshman team, there was no question what the answer should be.
Both Woodruf and McHugh were part of a group of Kinnelon alumni and families who turned up to celebrate the volleyball team's 25th anniversary on Oct. 22. The Colts defeated Hanover Park, 25-11, 25-15, in their Senior Night match.
"When we started this, we knew nothing about volleyball, except playing in gym class," said McHugh, whose 11-year-old daughter Kyleigh is about to start middle-school volleyball in Pequannock – along with soccer, basketball and lacrosse.
"Coming here and seeing how skilled they are, it's amazing we were part of it. They look very very good. They obviously had excellent coaching," McHugh said.
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Growing Kinnelon volleyball
Going straight to varsity in their debut season, the Colts finished well under .500, but, Manco said, "We understood what we had to do to get the program going." Kinnelon was able to add JV a year later, and then a freshman team.
Initially, Stephanie Finke, who won three straight NJSIAA titles as Paramus Catholic's middle hitter, became the middle-school coach under Manco. When Manco stepped down after the 2009 season to spend more time with Madison and her twin sons, who were all under 4 years old, Finke got the top varsity job.
Manco didn't stay away for long, coming back two years later as Finke's freshman coach. Both now coach the middle-school program together, with 50 or 60 girls for six weeks snuggled between basketball and spring sports.
Finke works on the offense, and Manco the defense.
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The Colts won three consecutive Northern Hills Conference titles from 2003 to 2005 – just two years after they were founded – and now have 10 division titles. They won North 1 Group 1 titles in 2019 and 2023.
"I can't believe it was 25 years," said Janelle Giresi, a junior setter on the original team who moved back to Kinnelon five years ago with her husband, former Kinnelon running back Chris Neinstedt, and their two kids.
"It's really cool to see how far the program's come. We were the athletic girls in the school who didn't play a fall sport. We came in in August, had a whole preseason, and that was it."
Kinnelon volleyball from launch to today
For John Bydook, Kinnelon's athletic director at the time, affordability was the main consideration.
He looked at both money and interest, a particular concern at a Group 1 school which needs multisport athletes. With students like senior Whitney Rohrer petitioning to start the program, Bydook knew there would be potential volleyball players right away – and Manco was already an experienced coach. The overall cost was relatively low compared to other sports Kinnelon added during Bydook's 24 years as AD, like ice hockey and boys and girls lacrosse.
"We started the program because there was interest, a lot of kids," said Bydook, who also launched girls volleyball at Mountain Lakes in 2018. "Stephanie had a great relationship with the kids, and she loved the sport, and knew what she was doing. It really wasn't a hard sell."
When Kinnelon's volleyball team began, it joined 167 others in New Jersey with about 4,500 players. According to the most recent National Federation of State High School Associations' survey, that's grown to 224 teams and more than 6,300 players.
Girls volleyball was No. 3 nationwide in the number of schools offering the sport last year, behind basketball and outdoor track and field. It's second in participation.
"I have a good feeling where it's going," said Manco, a health and physical education teacher at Kinnelon High School since 1994. "We hope to continue the same success. ... I see it continuing to build, continuing to stay strong."
This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: Kinnelon volleyball players return to celebrate program's anniversary