Wass helps lead Kings to five set victory in Lethbridge

Brent Forster - RDC

Friday in Lethbridge, the undefeated Red Deer College Kings were pushed to the limit by the Lethbridge College Kodiaks. After the Kodiaks tied the match at 2 sets each, the Kings earned a 15-12 win in the fifth set and picked up the road victory.

Lethbridge College was energized by their home crowd early and jumped out to a 4-2 lead. As the Kodiaks started to pull away, Adam Turlejski narrowed the Lethbridge College lead by 6 (13-19) with a kill down the middle, but the Kodiaks took the first set 25-16. The RDC Kings rebounded and captured the second set 25-20. The Kings led 13-12 in the third set and outscored the Kodiaks 12-11 to pick up a 25-23 win. In close fashion, Lethbridge College narrowly picked up the fourth set 27-25. The fifth set was tied 9-9, and then the RDC Kings pulled away and captured a 15-12 victory. It was the Kings' fifth win in a row to open the season.

Kings Volleyball Head Coach Aaron Schulha liked the persistence in a hard fought match. "I liked our ability to grind out a win on the road against a really tough team. The Kodiaks dug a pile of balls and that got to us early, but we got the job done in the end," said Schulha. "Thomas Wass came into the match at the end of the first set and settled some things down, as did Justin Lukacs. Scott Irvine had 17 kills and Evan Parchomchuk had 13. Chris Petersen was great defensively with 21 digs."

Schulha would like to see a better start on Saturday afternoon. "We were really tentative at the end of the fourth set, up 24-20 with the chance to end the match so that needs to change," said Schulha. "We started slow tonight which is something that needs to get better."

Thomas Wass and chosen as the Kings player-of-the-game. The first-year Open Studies student from Adelaide, Australia, contributed 22 assists, 4 kills, 13 digs and 1 stuff block. Dax Whitehead was the Kodiaks' standout and picked up 23 kills and 6 digs.

As a team, the Kings accumulated 52 kills, 38 assists, 3 service aces, 60 digs and 11 stuff blocks.

The Kodiaks (2-3) will host the Kings (5-0) on Saturday at 3:00 p.m.