Queens roll into final
Queens 2 Eagles 0
After losing three starters off last year’s Alberta Colleges Women’s Volleyball League champions, RDC Queens head coach Talbot Walton knew he’d have to spend a little more time putting together his starting roster this season.
That’s where the preseason comes in and the Wild Rose Classic is a big part of that.
“We’re definitely spending time experimenting with different lineups and evaluating the players in different roles,” said Walton.
But that hasn’t stopped the Queens from having success as they advanced to today’s Wild Rose final against the Mount Royal University Cougars with a 25-22, 25-21 victory over The King’s University College Eagles Saturday.
The Cougars downed the NAIT Ooks 25-14, 26-24 in the other semifinal and meet the Queens at 12:30 p.m.
Walton was able to use three different lineups Saturday as the Queens beat the College of the Rockies from Cranbrook, B.C. 25-18, 25-21 in the quarter-finals before meeting the Eagles.
The one area he’s working on the most is at middle blocker where veterans Mandy Carroll and Danielle Newton have interchanged with sophomore Leanne Price and rookie Dani Van Alstyne. In fact Newton has seen very little action.
“We’ve been able to rest her and give the other girls more playing time,” said Walton. “Last year we used our two middles (Carroll and Newton) all the time and by the end of the year they were wore down. This year we expect to give them more rest early on.”
The fact is Walton used his entire bench.
“It gives everyone some playing time. The thing is we’re still figuring things out as we haven’t had a lot of practice time since the Japanese left.”
The Queens had their hands full with the Eagles, something Walton wanted to see.
“It was a good match as they have some very skilled players and some veteran players,” he said.
The Eagles reached the semifinal with a 25-21, 24-26, 15-12 victory over the RDC Alumni, who beat Ambrose College of Calgary 25-11, 25-12 in the opening playoff round.
The Cougars downed Keyano College of Fort McMurray 25-14, 25-14 in the quarter-finals while NAIT stopped Lakeland College of Lloydminster 22-25, 25-17, 15-6.
In other opening round matches, the College of the Rockies beat Camrose Augustana Vikings 25-23, 25-14, NAIT stopped Concordia 25-12, 25-18 and Keyano downed Olds 25-25, 25-17.
Kings 96 Vikings 90
The RDC Kings captured TKUC Eagles men’s basketball tournament with a 96-90 win over the Camrose Augustsna Vikings in the final Saturday.
“Overall we played well,” said Kings head coach Stef Labrecque. “Camrose is a lot bigger than we are, but they couldn’t stay with us on offence. We did get hurt on defence, but that’s somehting that will come as we get to know each other more.
“We’ll get to practise a bit more in the next couple of weeks and work on a few things we saw this weekend. But overall it went well.”
Kendell Boese, Adam Shaw, who nailed a three-point basket with 30 seconds remaining to salt away the win, Stason Golden and Eric Bakker were solid for the Kings.
Wolves 56 Queens 46
The RDC Queens dropped a 56-46 decision to the Grande Prairie Wolves in the SAIT women’s basketball tournament Saturday.
“We were within two points in the fourth quarter before one of their Slovakian players took over and they pulled away,” said Queens head coach Dawn Smyth.
Lisa Ivanics led the Queens with 17 points while Jessica Foley-Geldart was named the RDC player of the game.
Edge Academy 6 Queens 0
The RDC Queens didn’t show up and were embarrassed 6-0 by the Edge Hockey Academy in exhibition women’s hockey play in Calgary Saturday.
“I was extremely disappointed with the veterans,” said Queens head coach Rob Weddell. “Three of them showed up while the rest were nowhere to be seen. We might as well have played shorthanded.
“But give them credit as well, they’re a good team. Young, fast and strong on the puck. Most of their girls are off the U18 program.”
The Queens also face the Calgary squad today.
“Hopefully we show a little more pride,” said Weddell.
drode@reddeeradvocate.com
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