LONGUEUIL, Que. – The RDC Queens know a thing or two about playing the Grande Prairie Wolves, who they faced four times in championship settings over the last two years.
The Queens needed all that knowledge to pull out an entertaining 25-27, 25-9, 25-23, 25-15 victory over the Wolves in the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association women’s volleyball semifinals Friday.
The RDC squad has also defeated the Wolves in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference finals the last two seasons and in the CCAA gold medal game last year.
“It’s nice to play a game against a team we’ve seen before in a setting we’re not used to,” said Queens middle Alex Donaghy. “It gives us more comfort when we know what to expect.”
“They always play their best against us, but we were also comfortable having played them four times in the last two years,” said Queens power hitter Leah Koot, who was named the RDC player of the match with 13 kills, an ace and 12 digs.
“We didn’t think of the pressure. We knew if we played our game and our best, success would come.”
The Queens showed that in the first set. They trailed 24-21 before fighting back to even the count at 24. They didn’t pull out the victory, but seemed to have the momentum.
“We tried to get a better jump than we did in the provincials, but there were two sequences in the middle of that first set that changed things in their favour,” said Queens head coach Talbot Walton. “We got ahead of ourselves a bit and were slightly unlucky not to win that set.
“We knew what they were trying to do and once we settled down it was a matter of making a couple little adjustments.”
The Queens jumped into a 6-0 lead in the second set and coasted to the victory, before once again struggling early in the third set. They fell behind 4-12, before middle blockers Donaghy and Megan Schmidt and Koot started to take over.
As well libero Maddi Quinn decided she wouldn’t allow the ball to hit the floor anywhere near her.
“It was tough to stop their big middle (six-foot-one Sarah Loedel), but we did a good job of getting to their other middle and stopped their right side hitters. We also won the battle against their power hitters and scored better.
“Megan (Schmidt) isn’t the biggest blocker but she was touching everything and scoring in transition. We were also patient and not rushing and on defence Maddi took over and decided to dig everything.”
Schmidt finished with 13 kills, three stuff blocks and eight digs while Donaghy had 13 kills, five blocks and two aces.
She also put the finishing touches on both the third and fourth sets with a block and a kill respectively.
Quinn finished with 14 digs, although that may have been a few less than she deserved.
Walton couldn’t have been happier with the way Donaghy performed in a key match.
“Alex needed find groove again,” he said. “She was missing in action for a while, but we told her we needed her and she responded. She served tough and was big around the net.”
Walton also got a solid effort out of his bench when needed. He inserted Marissa Neufeld in for Miranda Dawe in the third set and while she didn’t accumulate any points, she was solid on defence and served extremely well.
“This is a group effort,” said Walton.
“It’s just not the seven on the floor. We push each other in practice which carries over.”
Donaghy believes the experience the Queens gained while winning last year’s CCAA title was evident Friday.
“Because a lot of us have been through it before we know what to expect and are more comfortable,” Donaghy said. “We know we have to go all out and give everything we have.”
The Queens face FX Garneau Elans of Quebec City in the final tonight at 6 p.m. (MDT). Garneau advanced which a 17-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-21 win over Vancouver Island University of Nanaimo.
“We don’t know a lot about them, except they’re young and not as big as the teams we’ve faced so far,” said Walton. “They play a ball control game and have a good power hitter and one quick middle.
“It’s going to be fun playing a Quebec team in Quebec.”
Grande Prairie will now face the Humber Hawks of Toronto in the bronze medal semifinal while VIU takes on Camosun of Victoria.
Humber downed the Mount St. Vincent Mystics of Halifax 25-11, 25-10, 25014 while Camrose stopped the host Lynx d’Edouard-Montpetit 9-25, 26-28, 27-35, 25-19, 15-12.