Cougars 2 Queens 0
The Mount Royal University Cougars will be one of the top ranked teams in the Alberta Colleges Women’s Volleyball League this season, so it was no surprise to see them walk away with the Wild Rose Classic championship Sunday afternoon at RDC.
The Cougars, who have size and depth at all positions, downed the RDC Queens 25-17, 25-23 in the final.
“You expect Mount Royal to be ranked high based on the number of athletes they have returning . . . it’s the third year for a lot of the crew they had on the floor,” said RDC Queens head coach Talbot Walton. “It was a bit of a measuring stick to see where we’re at and where we will have to be.”
The Queens have their share of talent, but are still working on putting together a starting lineup.
“We’re still mixing things up, as a result we haven’t settled on a firm starting lineup,” said Queens veteran power hitter Jaclyn Neufeld. “Once we do we’ll be able to get into a groove.
“We have a lot of potential, but we’re playing a different style than last year so we’ll all have to do a lot of adapting in the next couple of weeks.”
At times the Queens didn’t look that far behind the Cougars.
“But they’re definitely a bit ahead of us now,” added Walton. “We have to figure out a way to catch up, what’s the best method to get there and what the final picture needs to look like.”
One of the things the Queens need to do is eliminate their unforced errors.
“We made a lot of errors, but the good thing is we realize they’re in our control to eliminate,” said Neufeld.
“We’ll need to get to a point where we don’t make those errors,” added Walton. “When we make better decisions it will result in positive results.”
Once they get used to the new system it will help as well.
“We still need to find that part of our game we’ll need to rely heavily on,” said Walton. “We haven’t found that yet. We need to trust in some of the system changes we made as well.”
Neufeld agreed adding that with two new setters this season it’s taking some time to feel comfortable.
“We were all so used to Quinn (Schulzke), but we have two really good setters. But they do have different styles and it takes time getting used to it.”
Neufeld will also have to get used to being one of the team leaders.
“Definitely,” she said. “It’s a different role than last year, but one I’m looking forward to. I’ll have to step up to the plate.”
The King’s University College Eagles of Edmonton downed the NAIT Ooks 28-26, 20-25, 15-5 in the third-place game.
The RDC Alumni beat Keyano College of Fort McMurray 25-11, 18-25, 15-5 in the seventh-place match after losing 22-25, 15-25 to the College of the Rockies from Cranbrook in the fifth-place semifinal contest.
Edge Academy 5 Queens 1
The RDC Queens were a bit more into the game than they were in a 6-0 loss Saturday, but it didn’t help much on the scoreboard as they dropped a 5-1 decision to the Edge Hockey Academy of Calgary Sunday afternoon.
“It was a big improvement over last night’s game (against the Edge), so we’re taking baby steps,” said Queens head coach Rob Weddell. “The penalty kill was strong today, which was a good thing as we were on it a lot.”
In fact the Queens lone goal was a shorthanded marker by Jessica Abt.
The Queens return to action Thursday when they host the Edmonton Chimos at 7 p.m. at the Arena.
Begin top Queen
Jesslyn Begin was the top Red Deer College runner in the Grant MacEwan University Open cross country races Saturday, placing fifth in the women’s five km run in a time of 21 minutes, three seconds.
The RDC squad finished second in the women’s team competition.
Former RDC runner Dylan Hackenbrook finished third in the men’s eight km race with a time of 28:24. RDC had an incomplete men’s team.
Other RDC results:
Women — Alesha Miller, 13th in 23:01; Melissa Cable, 16th in 23:24; Kate Blackett, 31st in 26:09; Christa Miller, 35th in 26:44; Elyse Richards, 39th in 27:05; Erin Connell, 45th in 28:19.
Men — Cliff Long, 36th in 34:02; Steve Gill, 71st in 41:56.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com