Queens 3 Rattlers 0
The RDC Queens were efficient from the hop on Friday night at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.
They were clicking on all cylinders as they got back in the win column with a dominant three-set sweep (25-16, 25-15, 25-20) over the Medicine Hat College Rattlers in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women’s volleyball play.
The Rattlers, who will host the ACAC Championships next month didn’t quite put up the fight the Queens had anticipated but the home side took care of business none the less.
“We know that Medicine Hat hasn’t won a couple of their last games and has maybe not been playing their best, so that’s always worrisome as a coach. Not too sure what you’re going to get from a team that’s trying to get ready for the first round of provincials,” said Queens coach Talbot Walton.
“We treated it like the first round. The sort of idea where we come and do business really well and be as efficient as possible. I thought our power hitters did a really good job of that.”
Your @CollegiateSpMed #PlayerOfTheGame:@RDCQueensVB 0️⃣6️⃣ Erin Neufeldt@MHC_Rattlers 0️⃣5️⃣ Brooke Christie#ACAC pic.twitter.com/Ht8cGMMuil
— RDC Athletics (@rdcathletics) February 22, 2020
Fourth-year outside hitter Erin Neufeldt was the Queen of efficiency for RDC in the victory. The Calgary native finished the night with a game-high 13 kills on 19 attempts, good for a 0.632 hitting percentage. Tess Pearman was also dominant on the attack, she finished with 11 kills on 22 attempts.
“Erin hit over .500 and she only had one error and it was on a poor set. Tess was scoring very consistently, hitting the ball hard too,” Walton said of the outside tandem.
“I think those two when they get going like that, it can be such a balanced attack and we can score and earn those points we need to earn.”
Neufeldt was player of the game for the Queens, along with the 13 kills she had eight digs, one stuff block and one service ace.
Rookie setter Emma Letkeman was also strong once again, recording 34 assists through three sets. Leading the way on defence was the ever-steady libero Kaylee Domoney, who had 11 digs in the victory. Domoney, a fourth-year Red Deer product is up to 996 digs on her career, just four short of 1,000 with one match to play.
“We got a couple of big digs, you expect people like Kaylee to get her digs,” Walton said.
“Erin and Tess chipped in with a couple and Jade (Van Dyke) and Edyn (Aasman) came off the bench. Emma (Holmes) got two in the last set that were difficult balls to dig but she put herself in the right spot to make it. We’ve been working hard to make sure we’re standing in the right position for situational attacks, so I saw that quite a bit.”
The Queens round on the ACAC regular season Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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