CALEDONIA — Caledonia High School volleyball coach Dan Reinhart was three days away from his team’s first match of the season and still had some lineup decisions to make.
The thought of moving senior Aubrie Klug from outside hitter to libero was a bold one, but Reinhart and his staff saw it as a chance to strengthen the team in what could be a big season.
Klug’s athleticism and power at the net was a definite asset for the Warriors, but putting the ball on her hands to initiate the offense was tempting, and Reinhart made the change.
“She was an all-conference outside, and she didn’t bat an eye or roll her eyes at all when we asked her about it,” Reinhart said. “She just said, ‘Yep, that sounds good.’
“In practice, she still likes the rep so she can attack once in a while, but she’s been a delight.”
The position switch was hatched due to Klug’s passing ability.
“She was one of our best passers in the flat line last year,” he said. “This year, we had three outsides competing, and they were all good, so my thought was that we could put her in that flat line every time.
“She plays that left back position as well as anyone in the area, and I know there are some outstanding players at that position.”
Shifting Klug, who has 223 digs and 17 service aces, to libero and 6-foot-1 senior Kensey King from right side to middle were significant changes that were embraced and have proven successful as the Warriors have compiled a 16-3 overall record and 7-0 mark in the Three Rivers Conference after beating Fillmore Central (13-5, 5-1) 25-15, 25-14, 25-22.
Caledonia has used a very balanced attack to push its way into the sixth spot in this week’s Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association’s Class AA poll.
“Our focus is trying to get better every time we step on the court,” Reinhart said. “Ninety-five percent of the time, we’ve done that, whether it’s something minute like keeping the ball in play while it isn’t in the window of attack or something else.”
Reinhart didn’t know he’d be watching the kind of balance his team has at the net, but it was certainly his goal to develop it. The Warriors have a recent history over outstanding hitters who can carry most of the workload, but Reinhart wanted to challenge the opponent a little more rather than it know what’s coming.
“It’s something I thought we needed,” Reinhart said. “Liv (Myhre) did a wonderful job and had a heavy load last year, but I thought it would more of a stress on the front defense to have to account for everybody, including hitting out of the back row.”
Myhre is a freshman on the roster at Winona State and her predecessor — All-State hitter Logan Koepke — is also in the NSIC at Concordia, St. Paul.
The Warriors, who qualified for the state tournament two years ago and is a two-time runner-up, are looking to attack from all over the floor, and that is evident statistically. Caledonia had five players between three and eight kills in Tuesday’s win over the Falcons, who entered the match unbeaten in the Three Rivers.
Junior Elsa Blum leads the team in kills with 98, and three others have more than 50. Freshman Ashlyn Reinhart has 93, King 86 and junior Adrienne Lange 54. Three of those players — Reinhart, Blum and King — have been set up for more than 200 attacks., and Reinhart leads the way with 33 aces and King with 24 blocks.
That attack balance is helped by Klug and the setting of junior Avery Augedahl, who has 312 assists and averages 9.2 per set.
“She’s been working really hard in terms of becoming a setter,” Reinhart said of Augedahl. “Anyone can set, but it’s really hard to be a setter. You are like the quarterback of the volleyball court.
“She was a setter as a sophomore and did a tremendous job, but you see a lot of setters playing a lot of club volleyball, and she’s a three-sport athlete who was an all-state softball pitcher. She’s working hard on the mental process of what we want her to do and is doing great.”
Convincing players that they are doing well is one challenge for coaches. Reinhart said his players can be hard on themselves — not with teammates but themselves — when things don’t go the right way.
“They beat themselves up a lot,” Reinhart said. “We are trying to help them realize that they don’t treat their teammates the way they treat themselves. I’d say the past two weeks, they are doing a good job of handling that better.”
The Warriors have lost matches to Waconia (12-5) at the Aerie Challenge in Apple Valley on Sept. 5 and to St. Croix Lutheran (12-6) and New Life Academy (14-3) at the Midwest Volleyball Warehouse Showcase in Burnsville on Sept. 19 and 20. New Life Academy is ranked seventh in Class AA, and St. Croix Lutheran was a state qualifier last season.
“We lost our first match each day at the Showcase, and we felt like we didn’t come prepared to play as well as we could have,” Reinhart said. “We told them it’s fine (to lose) right now because we played good teams, but we want them to learn from that.
“Once the playoffs start, a loss means there’s no tomorrow.”
