Reagan Kleiman was not thinking about volleyball when she was browsing a t-shirt shop in Gatlinburg, Tenn. with her family in 2021. However, that changed when Kleiman’s older sister Esther, a Taylor alumna, spotted a woman in the shop wearing Taylor volleyball apparel.
Her sister and stepmom approached the woman and after talking for a few minutes, they discovered that the woman was Taylor volleyball head coach Erin Luthy, who was also on vacation in Gatlinburg.
“I literally walked the other way,” Kleiman said. “I was like, she’s a college coach, like, she’s scary. But my stepmom was like, ‘Hey, this is the volleyball coach,’ and so I went over there, kind of talking, and Coach is like, ‘Hey, come to camp.’”
So, the summer before her junior year of high school, Kleiman attended her first college volleyball camp, and after participating in three camps at Taylor, she committed.
After visiting the school and experiencing campus for herself, Kleiman learned just how deep the Taylor community runs.
“I thought Coach Luthy was amazing,” she said. “She’s like a third mom to me (I have a mom and a stepmom). She’s just amazing and just the way she pours into us as players and cares for us so much. And then there’s the team dynamic. I was like, these girls seem very authentic and very Christ-driven.”
After joining the team as a freshman, Kleiman said she found a level of intentionality and connection she had never experienced before. She also learned to embrace hardship and flexibility at Taylor.
Kleiman was recruited as a middle hitter, but Luthy and the coaching staff saw her potential for hitting outside. By the spring of her freshman year, they approached her about the switch.
“We sat her down in the spring and said, ‘Hey, what do you think about this?’” Luthy said. “She’s like, ‘Sure, Coach. Tell me what I need to do.’ She’s always been incredibly coachable, up for whatever we need her to do from a team perspective and put a ton of training in her freshman spring, and man, she hit the ground running and was a contributor right away her sophomore year.”
In volleyball, changing positions can be extremely difficult, Luthy said.
While Kleiman was willing to make the switch, it required perseverance.
“It was really, really hard,” Kleiman said. “There were times where it turned into such a mental game for me. To be honest, I feel like it was a little bit of a crapshoot.”
That hardship paid off. By sophomore year, she recorded 252 kills, or successful attacks, with a .117 hitting percentage, followed by a .137 PCT junior year. As a senior, she already has 239 kills with a PCT of .223.
Luthy said Kleiman’s work has also helped shape her leadership, and for the past four years, she has witnessed a substantial amount of growth from Kleiman.
“Reagan models what it means to work hard day in and day out,” Luthy said. “And I think that’s what girls will pay attention to, is she’s fun to be around. She cares a lot about people, and she models day in and day out what it looks like to work hard.”
Selah Kolpien, a senior defensive specialist and Kleiman’s roommate, described Kleiman as everyone’s biggest fan and someone anyone can go to if they need a laugh.
As a teammate, Kolpien said Kleiman brings a unique energy that uplifts the team.
“She’s been a very steady player for us this year, and I think we do have some younger girls contributing on the team,” Kolpien said. “So I think when she does her job, I think it kind of instills confidence to the girls around her, like, okay, I can do this, and I feel like she just fires the other girls up.”
After being named Crossroads League Attacker-of-the-Week for the week of Aug. 24-30, Kleiman has put up a multitude of strong performances, including reaching a career-high 24 kills against Spring Arbor on Sept. 16.
Luthy said she has faith that Kleiman can be an All-Conference player.
“It’s been a joy to coach her,” Luthy said. “I’m excited about the rest of the season to come.”
The team will travel to play Goshen on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m.
