Kings crush Ooks
Kings 3 Ooks 0
The RDC Kings found themselves in unfamiliar territory Friday as they faced the NAIT Ooks in Alberta Colleges Men’s Volleyball League qualifying play at RDC.
The Kings are used to advancing directly into the ACAC championship tournament as one of the top two teams in the league.
But this season they finished third in the south, and were forced to meet the Ooks in a best-of-three series to earn a berth in the championships, which are slated for Feb. 27-March 1 in Grande Prairie.
They got to a strong start beating the Ooks 25-13, 25-11, 25-15. The second game goes tonight at NAIT with a third, if necessary, Sunday at 2 p.m. at RDC.
In the end it may not be a bad thing that the Kings are playing this week, according to veteran power hitter Chris Wowchuk, who was named to the ACAC All-Conference team in the South Division Friday.
“It’s never bad to play and I think it was good for the team to play this weekend,” he said. ‘We already had a bye week and if we sat around for another week it wouldn’t have helped us any. As well we do have some younger guys on the team, who are in their first playoffs and getting a taste of it before next weekend will help settle them down a bit.”
The Kings did look a bit tight early, although they had no problems with the Ooks, who finished last in the North Division with a 2-18 record.
“A couple guys had a few jitters, but settled down quickly,” said Wowchuk. “Also we didn’t put the first game away as quickly as we should have, but other than that I thought we played well. We didn’t give away a lot on defence.”
The only lull the Kings had was when they were ahead 24-8 in the first game. It took them six tries before right side Mitch Irvine, who was also named to the All-Conference team, put the game away.
“There were still a few areas we can improve on, but all-and-all it was OK, “ said Kings head coach Aaron Schulha. “It was good to play this weekend and now as long as we take care of our side in Edmonton we’ll go into the championship weekend with a bit of momentum.”
Winning 3-0 didn’t hurt either.
“It gave us a bit of confidence for sure,” said Wowchuk. “But the main thing is to carry this over. It’s not the time of year to be letting down.”
For the Ooks it was a tough day as they struggled to find any rhythm.
“We’re very inexperienced, plus Red Deer played well,” said NAIT head coach and former RDC King Simon Fedun. “Our timing wasn’t there and we were also a step behind all match. We’re not used to seeing that kind of speed.”
Irvine led the Kings with 10 kills, two aces, a stuff block and seven digs. Wowchuk added five kills, three blocks and four digs and Brandon Papp had four kills, two aces and five digs. RDC setter, Chris Gilbert, was the played of the match, finishing with five digs. Libero Brandon Perrott had six digs. Micheal Wiggins had three kills and two blocks for the Ooks.
l RDC Queens head coach Talbot Walton was named the ACAC women’s coach of the year Friday.
Walton, who is in his ninth season with the Queens, led the team to a 19-1 regular season record, best in the ACAC. The Queens go into the league playoffs Feb. 27-March 1 at Mount Royal, ranked No. 2 in Canada.
Meanwhile, three members of the Queens were named to the All-Conference team.
Right side Jessica Clutton, power hitter Katie Graves and setter Quinn Schulzke were named to the women’s South Division team.
Contact Danny Rode at drode@reddeeradvocate.com
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