RDC sweeps Lethbridge Kodiaks
Queens 3 Kodiaks 0
LETHBRIDGE —The fact the RDC Queens volleyball team beat the Lethbridge Kodiaks on Friday, was not overly surprising, but what had coach Talbot Walton excited is what the 3-0 win put them in position for.
“We have got to look at being 9-0 in the second half here with the chance to go undefeated in the second half on the season. That would be a huge achievement for us,” he said.
On Friday the match was never really in doubt as the first-place Queens handled the last-place Kodiaks quite easily — 25-14, 25-21, 25-23.
Their only real concern was keeping their focus as they rolled through the first set without breaking a sweat.
“We just got a little bit relaxed with our play,” said Walton. “The gym got really quiet and we had a hard time keeping the intensity level up, but we still executed a really high level and we were in control of the match the whole time.”
Dana Fox led the Queens attack with eight kills and four stuff blocks while Jessica Clutton had eight kills and five digs and Ashley Strome shipped in with seven kills and two service aces.
“Those are some really good numbers in match that we win the first two sets. We played well and we were very efficient on our side of the court at putting the ball away. I was pretty happy with our play at the net, we were dominant at the net.”
The Queens will try for perfection at 1 p.m. today in the regular season finale in Lethbridge.
Kings 3 Kodiaks 0
The RDC Kings are in good position to finish on a high as well, heading into playoffs after rolling over the Lethbridge Kodiaks 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-17) in the late game on Friday.
“We talked to our guys last weekend after the Friday loss (to Briercrest) and said ‘these last three games are important, win or lose we want to improve on every match,’” said Kings coach Aaron Schulha. “We played pretty well today, we didn’t make many errors and we’ll try to improve on that tomorrow and keep building some momentum heading into playoffs.”
The win puts them firmly in third place with the chance to wrap it up today in the final game of the regular season.
Mitch Irvine led the Kings with an impressive 10 kills, seven stuff blocks, two aces and three digs over the quick three sets while Jeremy Stubler had five kills, two stuff blocks and an ace, and Branden Papp had seven kills one block and six digs.
“It was a good all around win for us. Obviously Lethbridge is struggling record-wise, but Chris Wowchuk got an injury in practice yesterday — it was nothing serious but we were able to rest him today and the other guys stepped up when we need them to,” said Schulha.
Queens shut out
Cougars 3 Queens 0
CALGARY — If the RDC Queens looked sluggish Thursday in a 3-2 win over the Mount Royal College Cougars at the Arena, they were even worse Friday.
In fact the Queens never did look like themselves as they dropped a 3-0 decision to the last-place Cougars in Alberta Colleges Women’s Hockey League play.
“Basically we played three periods the way we played the first two Thursday,” said Queens head coach Rob Weddell. “You have to give credit to Mount Royal as they worked hard, but our passing was off, our pass receiving was off and we didn’t look like we had any legs.”
Outside of defenceman Janel Lirette, forward Karla Bourke and goaltender Kaitlyn Chapman there were few members of the Queens that came to play as the Queens were outshot 27-17.
It was the first loss in four games against the Cougars this year, but one that could hurt if the two meet in the playoffs.
“They celebrated like they won the playoffs and we gave them that confidence,” said Weddell.
The Queens host NAIT Thursday in their final regular season home game.
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