By Mike Drooger –

The Edgerton Flying Dutchmen volleyball team got the 2022 season underway on August 25 when they hosted the Cardinals of Luverne. The Dutchmen had some great spurts throughout the four-game set, but in the end, the Cardinals were just a little bit better, defeating the Dutchmen three games to one. Game scores in front of a large, enthusiastic crowd were 25-19, 25-21, 12-25, and 25-16.

This year’s Dutchmen squad is young overall with just three seniors. They also have a trio of freshmen that saw a lot of playing time against the Cardinals. One player with plenty of experience is junior Alyda Vande Griend, a three-year starter. She got a kill early in the first game to make the score 4-2 in favor of LHS before the Cards pulled ahead 9-2. Fellow junior Mateya Gilbertson stopped the Luverne run with a kill and EHS “hung around” the Cardinals the rest of the opening game staying within striking distance including 19-17 after a pair of Luverne miscues when Mateya was serving.

Schultz got a kill—one of five she had for the night—to make it 21-18, but the Cardinals retaliated with a pair of kills. When the Dutchmen hit a spike attempt long—to go along with a double hit—LHS took the 25-19 win.

The Cardinals helped the Dutchmen out early in game two with a trio of errors, two that occurred when Lexi Gilbertson was serving, and EHS enjoyed a quick 3-0 lead. But, as the sport of volleyball has the tendency to do, the tide changed in favor of Luverne, and they took a 6-4 advantage. Edgerton battled back.

A Schultz kill knotted the game at 7. Later, a Schultz serve was not returned and EHS led 11-9. A Vande Griend smash put Edgerton up 12-10. With Lexi serving, the lead grew to 15-10 (Alyda and Mateya each had a kill).

With EHS leading 16-13, Brenalyn Smit served what began a long volley. On three separate occasions, it appeared as if the Dutchmen had kills, but the Cardinals dug the ball keeping the volley alive. What looked like it would become a 17-13 EHS lead was eventually just 16-14 before LHS ran off four straight points for an 18-16 lead. The Dutchmen never fully recovered to put them in a 0-2 hole.

Game three was a coach’s dream for Katelyne Alderson. Her team looked sharp and controlled the tempo from the get-go, racing to an 8-2 lead. Schultz began the third game with an ace serve off of the net. Alyda and Mateya added blocks and kills, which added up to the six-point Edgerton lead.