Kings 3 Rattlers 2
The RDC Kings were almost back at full strength and it showed on the court and the scoreboard.
After sitting three starters – setter Luke Brisbane, middle Adam Turlejski and left side Matt Lofgren – because of team discipline during a 3-0 loss to the Medicine Hat Rattlers Friday the Kings had Brisbane and Turlejski in the lineup Saturday.
The result was a 18-25, 25-18, 25-20, 20-25, 15-8 victory in Alberta Colleges Men’s Volleyball League play over the Rattlers.
Lofgren was still out because of injury and he was missed early on.
“We missed his serve receiving,” said Kings head coach Aaron Schulha. “He’s a good mix of receiving and an offensive threat.
“Obviously having Luke and Adam back was important for us and we could still use Ryan (setter Ryan Beatson) as a sub to serve, which gives us more depth. Luke gives us added height at the net and along with Regan (Fathers) they did a good job against their left side hitters.”
The Kings started slowly, but midway through the second set began to pick up the pace defensively and in their passing game. Because of it Brisbane was able to run a diversified offence and was able to utilize Turlejski and Ty Moorman in the middle. Moorman finished with 11 kills and Turlejski 10.
“Using the middle totally depends on our passing and by getting the ball up to Luke we were able to run a different offence.”
Fathers added 21 kills and six digs while Brian Grenier had 12 kills and Brisbane two kills, two blocks, an ace, six digs and 52 assists.
Queens 3 Rattlers 1
For two and a half sets the RDC Queens looked as sharp as they were during a 3-0 win Friday. But they lost focus on their serve receive and it cost them an opportunity to sweep the match. Instead they managed to take a 25-18, 25-16, 20-25, 25-22 victory and run their season record to 5-1.
“The last set and a half we made it tough on ourselves as our serving and passing went in the tubes,” said Queens head coach Chris Wandler. “We took it to casual, hoping things would come back which gave them a spark.”
After continuing to battle to find their rhythm early in the fourth set, the Queens once again settled down and put the match away.
“It’s something we can talk about, but it was also good to see the team hit the regroup button and turn it back around,” added Wandler.
Jessica Jones, who has been out with the flu, returned and had a strong match with 10 kills, two aces and seven digs. Miranda Dawe added nine kills and 13 digs and Megan Schmidt nine kills, and three blocks. Hanna Delemont was also strong with seven kills, five aces, a block and two digs.
Ashley Fehr had 28 assists and Chanelle Kayser 15.