RDC Kings sweep Kodiaks in straight sets

At RDC on Saturday afternoon, the Red Deer College Kings Volleyball team hit the court to face the Lethbridge College Kodiaks in the 2nd game of a weekend series. The Kings had a solid match and defeated the Kodiaks in straight sets.

The Kings took the opening set 25-15. Regan Fathers led RDC with 7 kills. Dax Whitehead had 3 kills for the Kodiaks. 

RDC opened the 2nd set on a 9-0 run and couldn't be caught. The Kings won 25-12. Fathers had a 2 set total of 10 kills. Luke Brisbane contributed 23 assists, 1 service ace and 4 digs for RDC. Marcus Biesheuvel had 7 assists for Lethbridge College.

The 3rd set was close and tied on several occasions (14-14, 19-19 and 23-23) but the RDC Kings persevered and picked up a 25-23 victory. 

Brisbane was named the Kings player-of-the-game. The Bachelor of Commerce student finished with 29 assists, 1 kill, 1 service ace and 5 digs.

Kings Volleyball Head Coach Aaron Schulha was pleased with the serving this afternoon.

"Our serving was better today. Regan's serve is a work in progress and is still working on his toss. Matt (Lofgren) and Brian (Grenier) only moved to their spin serve in the 2nd half and they are starting to become more consistent," said Schulha. "In the grand scheme of things, if it is going to earn us a few more points here and there then we will continue with it. In general our serving was better. Teams seem to have a hard time with Luke's serve. It must move a lot."

Brisbane played well Friday but took another step forward today after dealing with a lengthy injury.

"Luke hasn't really set much in the past 2 months so just he's getting the feel back for different speeds for different guys," said Schulha. "He is a smart guy and didn't lose much being out for the better part of 2 months. It is a good sign. Getting him back is an energy boost."

The RDC Kings showed many positive signs on the court this past weekend.

"We did several things this week that show we are moving in the right direction which is good. There are positive signs for sure," said Schulha. "There was never really any type of body language that showed panic. It was a full team effort. Passing was a strength for us this week against a pretty good serving team which is a good sign moving forward."

The Kings are hoping to have Adam Turlejski back in the lineup soon from injury.

"Adam was jumping a little bit this past week. He was up to game speed with block moves but felt inflammation in the back. We have to be careful with it," said Schulha. "We hope that we have him for Medicine Hat. Daimyn (Biletsky) and Ty (Moorman) are doing a good job but I would love to have 3 or 4 middles that can get it done at crunch time."

With the victory, the RDC Kings (16-4) improve to 32 points in the ACAC Men's Volleyball South Division and sit in 1st place. Currently, the Medicine Hat College Rattlers (15-3) trail the RDC Kings by 2 points and this sets up an exciting showdown this coming week.

Next weekend, the RDC Kings will travel to Medicine Hat to face the Rattlers in what should be an intense matchup. Friday Feb. 10, the two teams will compete at 8:00 p.m. In a rematch, Medicine Hat will host RDC at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.