Kings, Queens dig deep to spike Kodiaks
Kings 3 Kodiaks 2
One of the strengths the RDC Kings have over the Lethbridge College Kodiaks is a deeper bench.
And the Kings needed every bit of that Saturday afternoon to pull out a 23-25, 19-25, 25-14, 25-22, 15-11 victory over the Kodiaks in Alberta Colleges Men’s Volleyball league play at RDC.
Meanwhile, the RDC Queens had their hands full, but still came out with a 25-20, 25-21, 25-23 victory over the Kodiaks in women’s action.
The Kings looked like a defeated team after the second set, but head coach Aaron Schulha made a couple of changes to the rotation and the match turned in their favour.
“They were obviously keying on (power hitter) Taylor (Hunt) and I tried to equal it out by moving him to the right side away from their best blocker Craig Schatz,” explained Schulha, who also inserted two of his younger hitters — Quentin Schmidt and David King — in at power.
“A while back if you would have said we’d win a match with Taylor on the right side and Quentin and David, two relatively inexperienced players, on the left side I would have taken it.
“The two young guys did a good job plus we solidified our passing by making a couple of changes. Nick (Bell) is a good enough setter and smart enough that if we look after the passing end of things we can be very, very good. We didn’t look after that last night (a 3-2 loss to the Kodiaks) and in the first two sets today, so we had to make some changes.”
Both Schmidt and King came on and not only were solid on the defensive end, but at the net. Schmidt was named player of the match after recording 13 kills, four stuff blocks and five digs. King had eight kills, two blocks and nine digs.
“Plus both are able to keep it light,” added Schulha. “When they make a mistake they forget about it. We need more of that. We have too many guys hanging onto their errors, especially some of the veterans. Part of it is that they expect a lot out of themselves, but we need to keep it light. If we do that we’ll be good. We’re not there yet, but this weekend will help us.
“I would have preferred two victories, but Lethbridge is a good team and they forced us into figuring out some things.”
Hunt finished with 15 kills and seven digs while Sean Tuff had nine kills and two blocks. Jeff Marthaller had 18 kills, two blocks and 10 digs for Lethbridge while Glen Lengyel had 15 kills and Schatz 10.
Queens 3 Kodiaks 0
The Queens have considerable more experience than the Kodiaks, who have only three returnees, and it showed late in each set.
The teams would be close until the final few points at which time the Kodiaks had tendency to make more errors.
“We have a fairly young group as well, but do have experienced players like Jaclyn (Neufeld) and Robyn (Denney) at power and Tarah (Truant) at libero as well as in the middle, so those athletes tend not to make the mistakes,” said Queens head coach Talbot Walton. “With those veterans around the young players, our setters know they can go to them in key situations.”
Most of the Queens inexperience is on the right side with Megan Skory, who is in her second year, and rookie Kirsten Sorensen at setter and Sidney Ponto and Brooke Sutter seeing action as right side hitters.
“I thought our right side did a good job today,” added Walton, who used both setters.
“Kirsten just needs game experience in making decisions that matter when games are tight,” added the veteran coach. “That’s a learning process and she’ll be able to take something away from today. It will take some time to learn that part of the game, but her mechanics are good.”
Despite the 3-0 win the Queens will learn from the match, according to Walton.
“They’re a big team and have a lot of talent, I’m glad we played them now rather than in January.”
Denney was also impressed with the Kodiaks.
“They put up a good fight, which makes for good matches. I like playing in this type of match where the games are neck and neck.”
Denney finished with nine kills and 11 digs as she gets a chance to start for the first time in her three years at RDC. Prior to that she played two years at Keyano in Fort McMurray.
“It was a change coming here and sitting on the bench, but I had a serving role and I did my part. We had a very good team with a lot of great players and I learned a lot by watching them.”
She got a chance to watch and play against all-star Katie Graves.
“I practised and played against her and she was always in the right position.”
Denney has stepped right in as a starter this season and hasn’t missed a beat, although there has been some system changes.
“It’s different than last year as we switched our setting tempo and we have two young setters, but its been a lot of fun.”
Neufeld had eight kills, three blocks and 11 digs while Mandy Carroll added six kills and three blocks. Rayna Tresoor had seven kills and two blocks for Lethbridge.
The RDC teams have next week off before facing Augustana.
drode@reddeeradvocate.com
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