By Mike Drooger –

It looked like it was going to be a quick three sets to zero win for the Edgerton Flying Dutchmen, and the Mountain Lake Area contingent could be back home at a decent time. Edgerton had taken the first two sets on scores of 25-15 and 25-16. Then they forged ahead in the third set 19-14 after a Savannah Schultz smash. Time to start the bus, Wolverine bus driver. Not so fast. 

The Wolves scored the set’s next 11 points and forced game four. MLA provided some tense moments in the fourth set as well when they scored the first six points for an overall run of 17-0. KDWC radio Player of the Game Brenalyn Smit described her team’s scoring drought during her postgame interview with Ross Kreun: “We kind of started messing around like we were in practice. We were not focused. We were goofing off too much, just lost all of our focus. When we don’t have focus we don’t have discipline.”

But Edgerton regrouped ,thanks to some supreme senior leadership and took the final set 25-20 to improve their overall mark to 3-6 and 1-3 in Red Rock Conference action.

Her initials are AVG but she’s far from an average volleyball player. Alyda Vande Griend set the tone right out of the starting gate in the first set with a kill. She followed that up with an ace block and another kill. Her third kill put EPS up 5-0 and her team was in the driver’s seat. 

Later, with Lexi Gilbertson serving, AVG was at it again. An ace block put Edgerton up 15-8. A kill increased the lead to 18-8. Savannah Schultz joined the hit parade with a trio of kills and Edgerton was on the cusp of victory with a 24-13 lead. After the Wolverines put a couple points on the board, they sent a spike attempt wide and out of bounds for the EPS win. 

AVG was head and shoulders above the competition in the second set as well, hammering a pair of kills for a 4-1 lead. Mateya Gilbertson scorched an ace serve and it was 5-1. Much later in the second set, Schultz got a kill to make it 19-15. Then freshman Kya Voge took her turn serving. The Wolverines were their own worst enemy during Voge’s serving; getting called for being in the net, hitting a spike long, and hitting a ball into the net. When Voge was finished serving, her team led 23-16. 

AVG showed her versatility with a kill launched from the back row. Mateya ended the second set with a kill of an MLA blocker attempt and it was time for the third set where the Dutchmen could do no wrong early. But the sport of volleyball ebbs and flows perhaps more than any other sport. Old Man Momentum moved from Edgerton’s side of the court when the Dutchmen had gained 19-14 lead, and he remained on MLA’s side for the duration of the third set and into the beginning of set number four.