Queens 3 Broncos 1
The RDC Queens haven’t lost an Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference volleyball match since Oct. 19.
Friday, they ran their win streak to 17 matches and are also a perfect 8-0 on home court at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre and kept that streak intact with a four-set win (23-25, 25-14, 25-20, 25-10) over the Olds College Broncos Friday. They are 17-2 on the season.
Still, RDC came out slow and lethargic in the first set, falling to the Broncos but from there, rounded into form and rolled over the Broncos. That included a dominant 25-10 victory to close out the match.
“The first set usually goes one of two ways. We’re either right on top of it or they don’t have life, they look sort of listless. Olds showed up ready to play and I know if we can keep playing– our sustained effort is at a high level,” said Queens coach Talbot Walton.
“That’s all we had to do. We had our chances in the first set, but didn’t capitalize and just had to make sure that doesn’t affect the second third and fourth set. We did what we’re supposed to do (after the first set), would have been nice to start a bit better.”
Second-year outside hitter Tess Pearman, who was the RDC Athlete of the Week for her performance last weekend, picked up where she left off with another stellar performance Friday.
Pearman had a match-high and individual season-high 22 kills on 33 attempts. She also had three aces and one stuff block in the victory.
“That’s fantastic, 22 kills in four sets, that’s a monstrous game. She hit some balls very hard tonight. We haven’t seen that kind of velocity in this gym in a long time,” Walton said.
“She’s just really taken over. She’s starting to get her game figured out. Finding that confidence piece. We took a little while there from a game plan perspective, I don’t know if our passing allowed us to make the best setting choices in the first set. A couple of times, later on, we got stuck in some spots where we were running a third choice, instead of one of our first.”
The contribution from Queens rookie setter Emma Letkeman was also key, she recorded 43 assists in the victory. Queens all-time digs leader Kaylee Domoney also made life easy for the RDC attackers, pitching in 15 digs in the win.
Broncos outside Tabitha Martin was player of the game for the visitors with eight kills.
With five matches left in the ACAC season, the Queens travel to Olds Saturday to take on the Broncos.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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