Kings 3 Clippers 0
The RDC Kings have battled through some peaks and valleys over the last several matches but left no doubt on Saturday afternoon.
RDC swept the Briercrest College Clippers with ease in three sets (25-15, 25-17, 15-18) to win their eighth Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference match in a row.
The Kings came out hard and fast, minimized their errors from the service line and mixed up the offence on the way to victory.
“It was one of the most complete matches that I can remember. It was nice to see. You know it’s a good match… when it could have been anybody. Could have been any of the seven guys that were seeing the floor regularly. That’s a nice problem to have,” said Queens head coach Aaron Schulha.
“Their two big guns did some damage, the amount of volume they get that’s going to happen… just try to eliminate our errors. We can’t afford to give free– easy points to to a good team. We controlled a lot of the match.”
Rookie Carter Hills quietly led the way as the Kings attack percentage was just a shade under 50 per cent. Hills had 12 kills on 25 attempts along with four digs.
Patrik Toze was right behind Hills with 11 kills and setter Tom Wass did another efficient job distributing the ball and keeping the Clippers off balance.
“It started on the service line, in terms of errors. Our ace to error ratio was good, we had five aces and only eight misses, (Friday) it was similar aces with 16 misses. Allowing ourselves to build a rhythm that way on the defensive end and from the service line,” Schulha said.
“Tom did a really good job of locating. He tweaked up his hip (Friday), we weren’t even sure that he was going to go today. He did a good job battling through some soreness… he did a good job of battling through, he was maybe thinking about his leg a lot and less about how to set the ball. He did a good job of spreading the ball around.”
Middle Cody Boulding was the Kings player of the game with four kills and three stuff blocks. Boulding, originally a middle out of high school, played a lot of outside last year and a bit to start this season but is starting to settle back into the middle and is quickly becoming an effective piece for RDC.
“Now he’s getting all those reps in the middle and he’s really developed. He’s more vocal and he’s doing all the right things,” Schulha said.
“Him and Mark are a little bit smaller than most middles… but they’re awfully athletic and their jump and length and quickness really eliminates and size difference they have with other middles in the league. Out athleticism in the middle is a big difference right now.”
Clippers’ hitter Karym Coleman led the match with 15 kills.
With a win and a Lethbridge loss, the Kings now sit first in the ACAC South at 18-4 and 36 points, with two matches to play. They will host the Medicine Hat College Rattlers next weekend to round out the regular season.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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