By Mike Drooger –

A quirk in the Edgerton Flying Dutchmen volleyball schedule gave the girls 11 days off from game competition, which was a break everyone gladly accepted. EHS had been busy with volleyball including Saturday tournaments on three consecutive weekends, not to mention matches a couple of nights a week since the season officially began on August 26.

Through the 2021 season’s first 22 matches where they’d gone 12-10, the Dutchmen have put together quite an improvement from the last four seasons. The 12 wins Edgerton has this season are equal to the previous four seasons combined. The Dutchmen went 8-16 in 2017, 0-23 in ’18, 3-24 in ’19, and 1-11 last season. That computes to a 12-74 overall record over four years.

So what’s the secret to Edgerton’s sudden success this season? Head coach Katelyne Alderson believes a big part of it is the additional time spent with the players in the offseason. “We were able to maintain a Junior Olympic volleyball season over the spring even though many area programs couldn’t make it work with COVID restrictions. At J.O., there are some fabulous coaches from the area that spent time getting them up to speed, as well as them getting to spend more time on the court together, which in turn helped them form on-court connections,” explained Alderson.

Coach Alderson also noted she was able to spend time with the players over the summer thanks to the summer waiver enacted by the Minnesota State High School League. A summer coaching waiver allows coaches to contact their athletes and schedule practices and workouts during the summer months when there’s no school. “With the waiver, I spent time with the players over the summer, which contributed even more to those court connections,” Alderson explained.