NEW ULM — Area Athletic Directors knew that the potential of fall sporting events being postponed due to COVID-19 was pretty high after the Minnesota State High School League allowed for volleyball and football to begin play in October.

As of now, there are a couple area volleyball teams that are in quarantine due to COVID restrictions and the hope is that they’re able to resume their schedule once the two-week period is over.

New Ulm High School hasn’t played a volleyball game since October 15 when the Eagles defeated St. Peter in four sets. They were supposed to play at Fairmont on Oct. 20, at Blue Earth Area on Oct. 22, host Waseca on Tuesday and they were supposed to host St. James Area on Thursday, but that game has also been postponed. Additionally, the Nov. 5 contest with Fairmont at New Ulm has also been postponed and that game is supposed to be played on Friday Nov. 6.

NUHS coach Stef Dietz said that her team found out on the 22nd that they would have to quarantine. Dietz said it’s been difficult for everyone involved trying to get through these times and trying to stay positive.

“They’re frustrated, we’re all frustrated, I think to ease the pain of not being able to play, we’re not the only team that’s going through it,” Dietz said. “I was told that Windom is also going through it right now, so there’s a lot of teams that have gone through it or are currently going through it, so I just simply told them to keep their head up and this too shall pass. We come back stronger when we get the opportunity to get back out on the court. Some teams might not get as many matches in as we have, so we can count our blessings for what we’ve had so far. The biggest thing is trying to stay mentally prepared for when we come back on November 6.”

Dietz and the coaching has had to figure out how to keep the team engaged while they’re not playing.

“It’s not easy obviously, we’re not in the gym, we’re not in the weight room, we’re not together, so right now we’re connecting through emails and watching film,” Dietz said. “I’m sending them workouts they can do, daily quotes, just trying to keep them inspired and optimistic that we still have plenty of time to reach those goals as a team or any individual goals that we put in place for our season.”

New Ulm Cathedral Athletic Director Alan Woitas has the challenge of trying to reschedule four games. The Greyhounds were supposed to host Cedar Mountain on Tuesday and Wabasso on Thursday. They were also supposed to host New Ulm Cathedral on Thursday, Nov. 5 but that game has also been postponed. The Greyhounds can return to action on Tuesday, Nov. 10 when they are hosting Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart.

“We are under quarantine due to COVID precautions,” he said in an email. “We will be quarantined until November 7. We will have four games to reschedule.”

He said he found out about the quarantine this week. He said that the team was forced to quarantine due to close contact with an infected person.

“We were notified by Brown County Public Health on Monday and began the team’s quarantine then,” he said.

Cathedral’s football team is scheduled to travel to Tracy-Milroy-Balaton this Friday. Woitas said that as of now, the football game is still on for his school and New Ulm High School is also scheduled to play Fairmont on the road Friday night.