Queens 3 Trojans 0
The RDC Queens went into the final weekend of the Alberta Colleges Women’s Volleyball League regular season with one thing in mind – win twice over the SAIT Trojans and take second place in the South Division.
They took their first step in that direction Friday with an impressive 27-25, 25-13, 25-14 victory over the Trojans at RDC.
The teams are tied for second place at 16-7 and meet again tonight at SAIT. Both teams will play in the provincials, running Thursday through Saturday at RDC.
The early portion of the first set was all SAIT as they grabbed an 8-1 lead. However, once the Queens settled down defensively, and especially with their passing, the momentum changed. The Queens took a 24-22 lead before SAIT pulled even, then after they exchanged points the Queens took the first set, which appeared to destroy the Trojans confidence.
“We were able to make much better choices on offence once we started passing the ball better,” said Queens head coach Talbot Walton. “We got the ball up to Ashley (setter Fehr) and she was able to run a good offence and make good choices. When she gets the opportunity to do something with the ball instead of being forced into a play because of a poor pass, she creates a good tempo with the hitters.
“They are comfortable with the offensive sets and were swinging well at it.”
Fehr, who was named the RDC player of the match, finished with 30 assists and got everyone into the flow. McKenna Barthel finished with 10 kills, two blocks and six digs, Miranda Dawe eight kills, a block and 11 digs, Kelsey Tymkow eight kills, an ace, two blocks and 13 digs, Hanna Delemont six kills and three digs and Whitney Zylstra four kills, two blocks and seven digs.
The Queens did a good job against the SAIT power hitters, including fourth-year Megan Brennan, who had seven kills and is 12 short of becoming the all-time kill leader in the ACAC. Shantelle Jonassen had eight kills.
“In that first set McKenna got to No. 9 (Jonassen) with a couple of big time blocks and that really changed their hitters psyche,” said Walton. “But I’m sure Megan will be all-world again tomorrow, we just need to continue to play the way we can.
“That was a big win, one we needed. We have a good opportunity to come back tomorrow and finish second.”
Four members of the Queens, who will graduate – Olivia Barnes, Fauve Welsh, Tymkow and Neall Murphy – were honoured following the match
Kings 3 Trojans 0
The Kings, much like the Queens, struggled with their serve receive early on, but it didn’t last long. In fact, overall they controlled the play and were never in real trouble taking a 25-17, 25-18, 25-18 victory.
‘It was pretty clean for the most part,” said Kings head coach Aaron Schulha. “Nic (Dubinsky) and Tom (Lyon) helped us in that first set as did Luke (setter Brisbane) by putting the ball in the right places.”
Dubinsky eight kills the first set while Lyon had two kills, a block and two aces.
“When Nic is hot and some of the others get hot as well we’re a tough team to play,” added Schulha. “And Riley (Friesen) was good from the service line late, which we need from him on a consistent basis.
By DANNY RODE
Special to the Advocate
Queens 3 Trojans 0
The RDC Queens went into the final weekend of the Alberta Colleges Women’s Volleyball League regular season with one thing in mind – win twice over the SAIT Trojans and take second place in the South Division.
They took their first step in that direction Friday with an impressive 27-25, 25-13, 25-14 victory over the Trojans at RDC.
The teams are tied for second place at 16-7 and meet again tonight at SAIT. Both teams will play in the provincials, running Thursday through Saturday at RDC.
The early portion of the first set was all SAIT as they grabbed an 8-1 lead. However, once the Queens settled down defensively, and especially with their passing, the momentum changed. The Queens took a 24-22 lead before SAIT pulled even, then after they exchanged points the Queens took the first set, which appeared to destroy the Trojans confidence.
“We were able to make much better choices on offence once we started passing the ball better,” said Queens head coach Talbot Walton. “We got the ball up to Ashley (setter Fehr) and she was able to run a good offence and make good choices. When she gets the opportunity to do something with the ball instead of being forced into a play because of a poor pass, she creates a good tempo with the hitters.
“They are comfortable with the offensive sets and were swinging well at it.”
Fehr, who was named the RDC player of the match, finished with 30 assists and got everyone into the flow. McKenna Barthel finished with 10 kills, two blocks and six digs, Miranda Dawe eight kills, a block and 11 digs, Kelsey Tymkow eight kills, an ace, two blocks and 13 digs, Hanna Delemont six kills and three digs and Whitney Zylstra four kills, two blocks and seven digs.
The Queens did a good job against the SAIT power hitters, including fourth-year Megan Brennan, who had seven kills and is 12 short of becoming the all-time kill leader in the ACAC. Shantelle Jonassen had eight kills.
“In that first set McKenna got to No. 9 (Jonassen) with a couple of big time blocks and that really changed their hitters psyche,” said Walton. “But I’m sure Megan will be all-world again tomorrow, we just need to continue to play the way we can.
“That was a big win, one we needed. We have a good opportunity to come back tomorrow and finish second.”
Four members of the Queens, who will graduate – Olivia Barnes, Fauve Welsh, Tymkow and Neall Murphy – were honoured following the match
Kings 3 Trojans 0
The Kings, much like the Queens, struggled with their serve receive early on, but it didn’t last long. In fact, overall they controlled the play and were never in real trouble taking a 25-17, 25-18, 25-18 victory.
‘It was pretty clean for the most part,” said Kings head coach Aaron Schulha. “Nic (Dubinsky) and Tom (Lyon) helped us in that first set as did Luke (setter Brisbane) by putting the ball in the right places.”
Dubinsky eight kills the first set while Lyon had two kills, a block and two aces.
“When Nic is hot and some of the others get hot as well we’re a tough team to play,” added Schulha. “And Riley (Friesen) was good from the service line late, which we need from him on a consistent basis.
‘There were a lot of good things up and down the lineup and we were clean all the way through.”
Dubinsky finished with 17 kills, a block and two digs while Friesen had 10 kills, four aces, two blocks and four digs, Lyon had five kills, two aces, a block and five digs and Kashtin De Souza five kills and three digs. Ty Moorman had four kills and Brisbane had 33 assists, a kill, an ace and 10 digs. Libero Michael Sumner was the RDC player of the match thanks to his brilliant defence and solid passing. He finished with 10 digs and two assists.
Justin Delorme had 11 kills for the Trojans while libero Chris Peterson of Red Deer had seven digs.
The Kings, who are ranked No. 1 in Canada, have Saturday’s match before the playoffs at NAIT next weekend.
Schulha feels his team is close to being where they need to be.
“Our focus the last couple of weeks was to improve ourselves.”
What he still wants to see is more blocks for points.
“We left some blocks on the floor. We’re blocking too high. We’re blocking like it’s CIS and giving our opponents too much respect. That’s something we will address and be better at tomorrow and going forward.”
DeSouza, who played the last three years and is moving on to UBC, was honoured prior to the match.
Danny Rode is a retired Advocate reporter who can be reached atdrode@www.reddeeradvocate.com. His work can also be seen atwww.rdc.ab.ca/athleticsblog.