VOLLEYBALL: New coach Jackson looks to maintain, grow winning culture at Claremore

Jul. 23—For Claremore volleyball, some things seem to never change.

The Lady Zebras have grown to become a perennial power over the back half of the last decade, qualifying for the Class 5A state tournament in four of the past five years (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021). They recorded 100 wins during that span and reached the semifinals for the first time in school history three years ago.

With several key pieces back from last year's state quarterfinalist squad, Claremore is expected to be among the top teams in Class 5A again in 2022.

Despite that apparent stability, the Lady Zebras volleyball program has lacked consistency at the coaching position.

Derek Jackson, who comes to Claremore after a three-year stint at Sand Springs, is the school's third volleyball coach in four seasons. He takes over for Kim Mabbott, who coached the program the past two seasons and led the Lady Zebras to the Class 5A state tournament in 2021.

Before that, Victoria Giron established a winning culture while guiding Claremore to three-consecutive state tournament appearances.

Now it is up to Jackson to maintain and improve the winning tradition instilled by coaches of yesteryear. That is a major reason he was drawn to the largest school in Rogers County.

"It's hard not to like winning a little bit," Jackson said. "It's a new challenge in that I've taken over two programs in the past that were struggling heavily, and this is not one. So it's kind of a new dynamic for me on trying to not just have them learn to win, but now how do I keep them winning and how do I keep them pushing? It's a little bit different ... I think just trying to get them to trust me to let me coach them and let me create the culture. It kind of takes some weight off their own shoulders. We've had our talks and our ups-and-downs with it, but the first few days of practice so far have been really competitive. They're trying what we're asking, and they're bonding well and being good teammates to one another. I think it's going really well so far.

"That's always something you have to work on that I think a lot of coaches let slip, and that always bites them in the butt somewhere."

Luckily, Jackson won't have to go it alone. Joining him as the lone assistant coach is Niki Baughman, who recently stepped down as the Collinsville volleyball coach.

Managing five teams between them (seventh grade through varsity) will be a difficult task, but Jackson said they are determined to do whatever it takes to make the student-athletes successful.

"She's been a big help," Jackson said. "... we're going to be spread pretty thin giving these kids all we've got. We're already tired just three days in as coaches, but I definitely don't think long-term success would be happening if I didn't have a quality coach like her. She's done a great job helping me try to build this program the right way to have success not just this year, but years down the road."

Key Question: Can Claremore manage the game load?

In the past, teams were allotted access to three tournaments and a set number of standalone conference/nonconference matches. However, as of a couple of years ago, teams are now allowed to play in up to four tournaments and 12 standalone matches, which makes for a lot more games on the schedule.

In 2021, the Lady Zebras played 37 regular-season matches despite participating in only three tournaments. That number will certainly surpass 40 as they are set to compete in the Coweta Tournament (Aug. 12-13), the Sapulpa Tournament (Aug. 19-20), the Cache Tournament (Sept. 16-17) and the Claremore Invitational (Sept. 23-24).

"We'll have more games and therefore more practice days," Jackson said. "We need to make sure we try to handle that correctly."

Key Returners: The entire senior class

Claremore certainly isn't hurting for senior leadership.

The Lady Zebras have seven seniors listed on the roster, led by Ella Irvin, who was one of the team's leaders in kills and blocks last year. Elsa Rhodes, Abby Dake, Hannah Dorsey, Gracie Howe, Nicky Parziale and Reese Newman are expected to contribute handsomely as well.

"We've got a lot of them (seniors), but I think they're all going to find their way to helping in some fashion," Jackson said.

The sophomore duo of Ella Ramsey and Claire Hardage will lead a large group of underclassmen, which includes foreign-exchange students Augustina Munoz of Chile and Elisabetta Bertoli of Italy.

Key Game(s): Coweta Tournament

Claremore won't have to wait long to see how it measures up against top-tier competition.

This year in the Coweta Tournament, the Lady Zebras will take on four teams that made the Class 5A state tournament in 2021 — Carl Albert, Piedmont, MacArthur and Sapulpa. Carl Albert finished as runner-up while Piedmont reached the semifinals after eliminating Claremore in the first round.

The tournament takes place the first weekend of the season on Aug. 12-13.

"They'll have teams that probably make up four, five or six teams in Class 5A state," Jackson said. "Although I don't particularly like that it's that early in the season, it shows you where you stand real fast. Whether you like it or not, how that tournament finishes will really dictate a lot of how those first rankings will do.

"It shapes how the rest of the year tends to play out."