Coming out of Lacombe high school Katie Graves wasn’t sure what she wanted to do when it came to her post-secondary education.
She decided on RDC and to play for the volleyball Queens, which turned out to be a perfect fit for both sides.
“I’m definitely happy with the decision I made and I love it here,” she said.
Graves, who is one of the premier power hitters in the Alberta Colleges Women’s Volleyball League, joined the RDC squad the same year as setter Quinn Schulzke of Notre Dame and right side Jessica Clutton of Innisfail.
The trio have played a major role for the Queens, who head into this weekend’s ACAC championship at Grant MacEwan as the No. 1 ranked team in the province and No. 2 in Canada. The’are looking for their second straight ACAC title and third straight appearance in the nationals.
“They are excellent teammates, but the Queens are more than just us three,” said Graves. “Everyone brings something different to the team and contributes different things.”
The Queens have one of the more experienced teams at the provincials, with middle blocker Danielle Newton the only rookie in the starting lineup. Outside of Graves, Clutton and Schulzke, four-year veteran Mandy Carroll is in the middle with either Jill Folkard, who is also in her third season, or second-year Jaclyn Neufeld at the other power slot. Second-year Notre Dame grad Tarah Truant is at libero.
Graves, who was an All-Canadian last year, knows that experience is a benefit.
“It’s nice to have a couple of years together under our belts as we’ve seen a number of different situations and learned from them,” she said.
Two years ago the Queens were second in the ACAC and fifth at the nationals while last year they won the league title and placed fourth at the Canadians.
“They’re all learning experiences for the girls starting and those on the bench,” said Graves. “We all know what it takes to win.”
And that’s looking at their first game Friday at 3 p.m. against the Lakeland College Rustlers.
“We can’t look beyond that game,” added Graves. “Just because we’re ranked No. 1 doesn’t mean anything. We were No. 2 going into the nationals last year and that didn’t save us from playing the games. We have to play our game and play well or the underdogs teams will get you.”
The Queens need to finish at least second this weekend to advance to the nationals.
And no matter what happens this will be Graves final season with the Queens.
“It’s sad,” she said. “But hopefully we do well and it will end with all smiles.”
If the Queens beat Lakeland they face the winner of the NAIT-Grande Prairie match at 6 p.m. Saturday. On the other side Mount Royal takes on Keyano College and Grant MacEwan clashes with Briercrest.
The final goes Sunday at 3 p.m.
l The volleyball Kings also go into the ACAC finals in Calgary as the No. 1 ranked team and No. 2 in Canada. They open Friday at 1 p.m. against Grant MacEwan with the winner facing the SAIT-Lethbridge winner at 6 p.m. Saturday. Grande Prairie takes on Briercrest and Mount Royal faces King’s University College on the other side.
Games Friday go at Mount Royal with the rest of the tournament at SAIT.
The final is Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
• Two members of the RDC hockey Queens were named to the All-Conference team as the Queens prepare to open the ACAC semifinals against NAIT.
Forward Karla Bourke and goaltender Kaitlyn Chapman were named to the first team along with forwards Tonya Faasse of SAIT and Kendel Jurista of NAIT and defencemen Jess Legasse of Mount Royal and Laura Stosky of NAIT.
The best-of-five semifinals open Friday at 7 p.m. at NAIT with the second game Saturday at 4:15 p.m. at the Arena. The third game is March 5 at NAIT with the fourth game, if necessary, March 6 at the Arena and Game 5 March 7 at NAIT, if needed.
• The RDC men’s and mixed curling teams will compete at the ACAC finals in Camrose, running Friday to Sunday.
• The basketball squads are also in action with the Queens facing Concordia and the Kings meeting Grant MacEwan in best-of-three quarter-final play.
Both teams open Thursday in Edmonton with both games at RDC Friday. The women go at 6 p.m. with the men to follow. If third games are needed they.go in Edmonton Saturday.
• Kings rookie guard Lloyd Strickland and Karla Bourke shared Moxie’s Classic Grill RDC athlete of the week honours.
Strickland played a key role in the Kings two-game sweep of the Kodiaks in Lethbridge while Bourke led the Queens to a win and a tie against SAIT that gave them third place.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com