by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Claremont High School’s girls varsity volleyball team has learned a little about perseverance this year, turning early season uncertainty into newfound confidence and a share of the Palomares League title.

Monday’s 3-1 win at Ayala meant the Wolfpack would share of the league title with Glendora, finishing the regular season 18-9 overall and 8-2 in league. The victory followed the team being crowned silver division champs in the Garden Grove Tournament on October 11.

Now Claremont is preparing for a postseason run in the Division IV California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section tournament. Brackets will be released at 9 a.m. Saturday, October 18 at cifss.org.

Claremont High girls varsity volleyball coach Dan Reighter at practice Tuesday. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

All this success would have seemed most unlikely just a few weeks ago. Over the summer the Wolfpack girls’ varsity, junior varsity, and freshman/sophomore volleyball coaches all resigned abruptly, prompting a scramble for new leadership.

At the time some players weren’t even sure they’d have a season.

“I really didn’t think so,” said senior Rylan Vlasich. “It was very frustrating because we all worked really hard. And to know that we had a coach, and then we have to go all the way back to square one, it’s just hard.”

From the start of the season in mid-August to September 9, when former coach Dan Reighter stepped into the breach, the team took direction from at least three different coaches, recording six wins and six losses.

The early days of the season were chaotic.

“When they would come in, it would be whichever coach was available to coach them,” Reighter said. “So they would have a different coach for games, for practices, even tournaments. It was like, who’s going to show up?”

Reighter’s previous stint with Claremont ran from 2016 to 2021. His return was set in motion after a parent of a player contacted him.

“I was in Cabo San Lucas when I got a call from a parent saying, ‘They have no coach. What the heck can they do?’” Reighter said.

Claremont High girls varsity volleyball player Valerie Lee pictured at Tuesday’s practice. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Claremont’s first game after Reighter took over was a Palomares league opening 3-0 loss to Diamond Bar on September 10. In the subsequent weeks, he’s done a remarkable job of steadying the program, going 12-2 and taking the team from abject uncertainty to league champs. Reighter said he’s just doing his job.

“For me, I just kind of came in and just made sure they played some volleyball. And they’ve done well doing so,” he said. “I think the sad portion of it is I think they bonded through trauma. It was kind of a traumatic event for a lot of them. So I think a lot of bonding just happened purely through that. They all kind of learned to fight and stick together and not rely on, unfortunately, the people that should be leading and supporting them. They kind of learned that they can’t trust it, so, they relied on each other.”

Junior Riley Frandsen said the team has seen several coaches come and go over the three years she’s been at CHS.

“We’ve kind of gotten used to it, but this one was just a big one because everyone left,” Riley said. “And we had a lot of new players on the team, so it was a little more difficult. But I think we overcame it really well. We had a pretty good preseason for what we had to work with, and then Dan stepping in really helped us grow, and we had a great league [season] — best league we’ve had in my years here.”

Rylan made a key observation about how the team may have benefitted from early adversity.

“I feel like we’ve bonded really well,” Rylan said. “As a team, we’ve gotten really, really close. I feel we’ve gotten closer than we have in previous years and I think that’s just helping us carry the momentum and helping us win.”

CHS’s Tatum Longyear, front left, makes a play over Natalie Sanchez during Tuesday’s girls varsity volleyball team practice. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Riley said Reighter has been instrumental in helping players improve their skills on and off the court.

“Dan actually helps us fix [mistakes],” Riley said. “We’ve all improved both as people and players and I think that helps just overall on the court and it’s made this team really fun.”

Claremont’s girls volleyball coaching lineup now looks like this: Reighter and CHS alum Julianna Gomez lead the varsity team, Alexa Block, the junior varsity, and Mike Soto the frosh/soph.

At Tuesday’s practice, Reighter paused a scrimmage to refocus the team after sensing things were getting a little too loose.

“The more silly we get, the lack of focus we have at practice means we’re going to have more of a challenge going into CIF,” he said. “I’m okay to a point with having fun, but we still have to be disciplined. You’ve still got to be focused. And we’re kind of losing that because I think we’re still giddy, happy about league and all that.”

Claremont’s next match will be at the Division IV California Interscholastic Federation-Southern Section tournament. Brackets will be released at 9 a.m. Saturday, October 18 at cifss.org.