Queens Volleyball competing for bronze, while Kings aiming for a three-peat

It sure felt like a championship final match in the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre with the Rustlers and Queens fanbase filling the stands and making their presence known with their artificial noisemakers.

It was a tight first 18 points as both teams were deadlocked at nine but Lakeland College jumped out to a 14-10 lead which led to a Queens timeout. The Rustlers would continue to have a four-point lead as they entered the Polytechnic’s final timeout of the set. Lakeland College really had the early answers for the Queens offense. The Queens would crawl back and cut the Rustlers lead into half which led to a timeout called by the school out of Lloydminster. With a kill out of the middle from Kaylie Lueck (Bachelor of Education), the Rustlers would take the first set 25-22. This was Lueck’s fourth kill in the match and her team’s 17th total kill in the set.

With the hometown crowd on their side, the Queens took some momentum away from the Rustlers as they started the second set. But it still remained a very tight match with both fanbases competing with one another on who is going to be the loudest fans in Red Deer. The Rustlers would slowly pull away from the Queens and take a 16-10 lead into an RDP timeout. The number one ranked team in the ACAC just had so many weapons at their disposal that they were just winning the game with their offense. Out of the timeout, the Queens would finally stop the Rustlers but not before Lakeland scored two more points. The Rustlers ended up taking the second set 25-16 after a kill error from the Queens. The Polytechnic had just five kills in this set.

With a chance at a gold medal on the line, the Queens were forced to come out with their best set yet if they wanted any chance at defending their title from last year. It was a neck-and-neck set, to begin with, but nearing the final moments of the game, the Rustlers pulled away 20-17 which is where the Polytechnic called a timeout to find some way to solve this explosive offensive team. The brief break for the host team led to a 5-3 run which put them within one point of Lakeland. With a kill from outside-hitter Avery Bates, the Rustlers booked their ticket to the finals and the national championships after defeating the Queens 25-22 in the third set.

The players of the matches went to Queens libero Frankie Sandini and Rustlers setter Jana Laing. Sandini stood out from the rest with her 20 digs and Laing had an outstanding game finishing with 37 assists.

Laing explained it sure feels nice to get some revenge against the team that knocked them out of national contention last year and took away their gold medal. She added it is going to feel nice to be playing in a championship final surrounded by her friends.

The gold medal match is at 6 pm Saturday with the University of Alberta-Augustana Vikings waiting for them as they defeated the Lethbridge College Kodiaks earlier on Friday. It will be a South Division rivalry in the bronze medal match with the Kodiaks and Queens facing off for the third time this season.

Meantime, the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings will have a chance at defending their title as they defeated the Keyano College Huskies in three straight sets and will look at making it three in a row.

It was over three months ago, these two teams faced off against each other with the Kings coming out on top over the Huskies.

The Kings controlled the first set very well and played almost a perfect game from the attack line as they just had one error in the opening set. Setter Maddux Greves (Business Administration) ran an efficient offense as his attackers had a kill percentage of 52 per cent and 12 kills. It was a close set nonetheless to kick off this semi-final match as they were going tit-for-tat with each other until the halfway mark where the Kings really picked up their game. The Polytechnic would go on a 6-2 run to close out the set and take it 25-18 as the Huskies were called on a centre-line violation in the final rally of the set.

The hard-fought battle would continue into the second set. But like the first set, the Kings would explode near the midway point of the game and jump out to a 13-9 lead, going into a timeout called by the host team which later turned into an even larger lead. But the Huskies would crawl back into the set and continued to fight as RDP would let a large lead slip away. Fortunately, for the visiting team, they would still walk away with a 25-20 victory after a Huskies serve went long.

As the Huskies were looking to extend their chances of playing for a gold medal in front of their hometown crowd, they jumped out to an impressive 7-2 lead with some explosive attacks from outside-hitter Joao Cunha. Following a timeout called by Head Coach Aaron Schulha, his team would pick things up and slowly creep back into the set to make it close. But a late surge from Keyano led to a 20-16 lead which made it look like the Kings would be forced to play another set. However, with the Kings facing resilience Thursday night against the Rustlers, they had experience with this very similar situation. This sparked a comeback and the Kings would take the final set 26-24.

Outside-hitter Colby Nemeth was named the player of the match with six kills and four service aces. The Kings will play for the gold medal Saturday evening against the Briercrest College Clippers, who have shocked everyone by defeating The Kings University Eagles and the NAIT Ooks.

by RDP Athletics

Queens Volleyball competing for bronze, while Kings aiming for a three-peat

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