North Allegheny boys volleyball embarks on season of change

By: Chris Harlan
Saturday, April 1, 2023 | 11:01 AM

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The senior-heavy lineup that won a state championship has graduated. The head coach who led the program for two decades has retired. Yes, this is a season of change for the North Allegheny boys volleyball team.

The defending WPIAL and PIAA champions have only two seniors on the roster. Fortunately, their new coach already knows a lot about chemistry. First-year coach Dan Long is a longtime Tigers assistant and teaches science in the district.

Finding the right on-court formula will be his test, so those analytic skills could relate here.

“I enjoy problem solving,” said Long, a 2003 North Allegheny graduate. “I enjoy trying to fit pieces of the puzzle together best and understand how to make something better. When I think about what I really get excited about, it’s how can I optimize something? I think that (coaching) has a little bit of experimental design worked into it.”

He replaces coach Dan Schall, whose boys teams went 365-37 and won 16 WPIAL titles in 19 seasons. The Tigers have won four consecutive state championships and five WPIAL titles in a row.

The two returning seniors are 6-foot outside hitter Jax Wilhite and 6-7 middle Varun Kaveti. Wilhite was third on the team with 189 kills and Kaveti was sixth with 127. The team also returned junior defensive specialist Will Hahn, who was fourth in digs with 159.

But the roster had little varsity experience beyond those three.

“We have some guys who are playing their first meaningful varsity points,” Long said. “We’re feeling our way through that, but there’s definitely promise and potential with this group to continue to really grow. I’m excited about where we are, but I’m also excited about where I think we can be in May.”

He’ll be relying on a strong junior class. Among the top juniors are opposite hitter Stone Gaertner, outside hitters Josh Farr and Sam Kinzler, middle blocker Theo Wilkinson and setter Nicolas Carioto. The group combined for 43 kills last season.

“Fortunately for us, those guys were training with us all fall and competing with us with some club teams through the winter,” Long said. “It’s not a situation where we show up in March and see what we have. I had a pretty good feel for those guys.”

The small senior class is unusual for the Tigers, who had nine last year. One would-be senior, Nico Sfeir, was lost to injury in the club season. Sfeir led North Allegheny with 231 kills last season.

Long said another contributing factor to the small senior class was likely the pandemic, since it caused the 2020 season to be canceled.

This year’s seniors were freshman then, and some drifted away from the program.

“There were a couple of kids who were a part of things who never came back,” he said. “Kind of fizzled out a little bit.”

Long, who played for Schall as a senior, worked as an assistant coach on his staff for 15 years. He and his wife Aimee have three children, ages 7, 3 and 1.

“She’s been the star of the season so far,” Long said. “She always manages a lot during volleyball season, but now it’s more.”

He was promoted to head coach after Schall resigned last summer. Other assistant coaches also stayed, adding to the continuity.

“It’s been fun and it’s been a lot of work,” Long said. “There are a lot of things that go into the process of being a head coach that I’ve avoided for awhile. But I was excited for the chance to see things from a different perspective.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

Tags: North Allegheny