At the beginning of the season Jaclyn Neufeld felt she just didn’t have the time to commit to the RDC Queens volleyball team while in her fourth year of nursing.
But the native of Acme found a little extra time and just couldn’t turn down an opportunity to come back for the second half of the Alberta Colleges Women’s Volleyball League season.
“I thought volleyball might be done for me, but the opportunity to come back was there and I’m definitely excited,” she said. “This is the final opportunity for me to play at the post-secondary level.”
Neufeld, who was one of the premier outside hitters in the league last season, wanted the opportunity to play one last time and to help the Queens, who struggled to find consistency during the first half of the season.
“There was a little bit of both,” said Neufeld. “I got to play, plus there was the opportunity to help out in some areas they were struggling with.”
Queens head coach Talbot Walton couldn’t have been happier to see Neufeld return.
“She’s definitely an asset. Even last weekend you started to notice her composure. When we needed a side out or someone to put the ball away she said give me the ball and let me done my thing and rip it. Most of the time she was successful. Plus she gives us another good-sized blocker on that side. Now we have two blockers up against the other team’s power hitters.”
Neufeld, who played most of her first three seasons on the left side, is on the right side.
“I played the second half of last season there, so it’s fine,” she said. “Plus coming in now it’s nice not to have the extra pressure of passing the ball as much as you do at power.”
Neufeld joined the Queens on their trip to Japan prior to Christmas, which benefitted her and the team.
“It gave me a chance to meet and know the (new) girls and for me to know what my role would be and where I fit in.
“The opportunity for her to go to Japan was a good situation for us and Jac,” said Walton. “She met the girls and got a chance to work through different situations. As well everyone was fine with us adding another athlete and because of Japan’s nature it really helped and made for an easy transition.”
The team also isn’t all new to Neufeld as most of this year’s starting lineup played with her before.
“We have the same setter (Kirsten Sorensen) and the same passers, so a lot of things are the same, but there are changes as well,” she said. “But it’s been fine.”
The Queens swept last weekend’s doubleheader at Lethbridge, although both matches went five sets.
“We need to be more confident and trust that we can run our systems and not change to what the other team is doing,” she said. “Especially coming back from Japan. They’re such a fast team and we learned a lot from them. Now we have to carry that on.”
While Neufeld is fitting in nicely with the Queens she knows there will be some busy times ahead.
“I have my clinical in February and it’s a little more demanding in the fourth year so it will be a busy time, but January isn’t that bad.”
Neufeld graduates this year and is looking forward to it.
“It’ll be great, but looking back over the four years it seemed to fly by, but at the same time it was a lot of work.”
RDC faces SAIT in a home-and-home series this weekend — Friday at RDC and Saturday in Calgary. The women get underway at 6 p.m. with the men to follow.
l The basketball squads also face SAIT in a doubleheader — Friday in Calgary and Saturday at RDC. The women tip off at 6 p.m.
It’s a big weekend for the Kings, 6-5, in their battle to finish at least third in South Division. SAIT comes in at 6-6 and the Kings are just behind 7-5 Medicine Hat.
l The RDC badminton team competes in the third tournament of the season, Saturday and Sunday at Concordia University College in Edmonton,
l The women’s curling team lost in the B side semifinals in the Sylvan Lake bonspiel. Last year’s RDC men’s skip, Evan Asmussen, is third on the Brendan Bottcher rink of Edmonton that won the provincial junior title.
l Brooke Sutter of the volleyball Queens and Robert Pierce of the basketball Kings were the Boston Pizza RDC athletes of the week.
Pierce had 26 points and 16 rebounds in a 104-78 win over Grande Prairie Saturday. Sutter played a key role in the Queens sweep over Lethbridge as she finished with 23 kills, four aces, 28 digs and one stuff block.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com