Brooke Pehrson had stepped down after five years and a 58-67 record, so the program was not a train wreck.

“The girls weren’t miserable. It was helpful that I didn’t have to put out fires because of the coach before,” Dannehl said.

However, several key seniors had graduated and Dannehl opened with a roster that featured only five returning seniors and 10 raw freshmen.

“We definitely had a lot of talent coming up, we just didn’t have six girls where I could say this is who’s going to play every varsity game,” Dannehl said. “It’s great that we had that diversity, but also hard because the girls didn’t have a chance to really jel with each other by playing with the same girls over and over again.”

BRIAN WOLFER, Special to the Standard-Examiner

The Falcons continued to tinker as recently as their match against West Field last week in which Dannehl changed the lineup almost every single set.

“(The girls) have learned how to adjust. I’m still working on bonding … getting them on board with me. I have a different coaching style than Brooke; not good, not bad, just different,” Dannehl said. “I’ve learned a ton and will be changing quite a bit next year.  They were always respectful, but maybe questioned me a few times, which is alright.

“Brooke was passionate and maybe I took it too far in the opposite direction … too nice.  Next year will be a great balance.  I know some things I want to change and put into play,” Dannehl said.

Having an RPI ranking around 20, Clearfield will miss the 5A playoffs next week with a record of 13-13 (going 7-5 in Region 5). But two players hit career milestones during the season.

Senior setter Ava Rasband got her 1,000th career assist earlier in the year and is north of 1,200 now.

Teammate senior libero Erin Lowry leads all of 5A in digs, and topped 1,000 for her career in Tuesday’s match against Bonneville.

“Erin and Ava have made a huge impact; they kept the ball alive. We were just never able to put the ball down,” Dannehl said. “That’s why we’re where we are. We could rally, rally, rally but couldn’t quite finish. Our defense was incredible.”

As a player, Dannehl prepped as a freshman in Ocala, Florida, then three years at Broadneck High School in Maryland.

She played on scholarship at Arkansas State for two years and moved to Utah 18 years ago.  She is a teacher (health, yoga and conditioning) at Legacy Junior High and was coaching volleyball and track there, and club volleyball in the spring, when the Clearfield job opened last winter.

Encouraged by a friend, Brittany Wallace, who works at Clearfield and heard of the vacancy, Dannehl applied with some trepidation.

“I was really hesitant, but she nudged and encouraged me. This is an opportunity that doesn’t always come along, so I decided to take it,” Dannehl said. “I was feeling completely out of my comfort zone and not good enough when I went into it. Excited but scared. Now that the season is over, I’ve absolutely loved it.”

Balancing track at Legacy and club volleyball in the spring, Dannehl eased into her Clearfield gig with a team-building hike up Adams Canyon in April to keep it low-key.

“I made it a goal to not burn the girls out, and I didn’t want to burn myself out. I wanted to get to know the girls and wanted them to look forward to the season and not be exhausted by the time we got to it,” Dannehl said.

Aided by assistant coaches Natalie Valentine and late addition Kylee Reed, the Falcons held open gyms in June.

The season had its ups and downs; one negative was that Clearfield lost 10 matches in two- or three-game sweeps, without taking a set.

“That’s one of the reasons we’re not ranked 18 or 19 in RPI.  When you look at teams in our region, West Field and Fremont are top 10 programs in the state,” Dannehl said. “But, hey, we beat Box Elder two weeks ago and they were 14.”

“It’s a work in progress.  I don’t like that number when I look at the stats. It’s not right. We need to fix that. It’s going to take some time, but we’ll get there,” Dannehl said.

On the plus side, the Falcons also won seven matches with sweeps, including the 3-0 win against Box Elder.

Fair or not, it sometimes feels like a cloud hangs over Clearfield athletics as a whole, and Dannehl hopes she can help fix that.

“We need to change our culture. The mindset of Clearfield is we’re supposed to lose; we’re not supposed to be competitive. Yes, we’re Clearfield, but we can win,” Dannehl said.  “The huge goal of our coaching staff is to change that mindset. We are good. We can win and we should get those set wins.”