Toze and Kings grind out four set win over Lions

Brent Forster - RDC

Red Deer, AB - Saturday evening, the RDC Kings were pushed by the visiting Ambrose University Lions. After dropping the first set, the Kings persisted and pulled out a four set decision (16-25, 25-21, 25-14 and 25-20) at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre.

Kings setter Thomas Wass finished with 43 assists, four digs, one kill and one ace.

"I thought Tom worked hard," says Keith Hansen Kings Interim Head Coach. "We didn't pass very well especially at the beginning of the first set and a couple other ones, so he had to work pretty hard." 

Patrik Toze led RDC with 12 kills, and was named the Collegiate Sports Medicine Kings Player-of-the-Game. Lacombe's Mark DeWit contributed 11 kills, one ace and hit for 62.5 per cent efficiency. Bendigo, Australia's Dillon Gauci had a 46.2 hitting percentage while picking up eight kills, three stuff blocks and one dig.

"Mark and Dillon's attack efficiency was good out of the middle, for the most part tonight," says Hansen.

Aiden McMillan, the Lions Player-of-the-Game, contributed 19 assists, four digs, two aces and one kill. Nikita Marchenkov was McMillan's favourite target, totaling nine kills, four digs, three aces, three assists and one stuff block.

As a team, the Kings finished with five service aces. The Lions had six.

While Hansen didn't think it was the Kings' best performance, he was proud of the team's perseverance.

"Sometimes you have to grind. I felt we were out of rhythm and just fighting it for a lot of the night, but I thought we did a good job hanging in there," he explains.

"They are scrappy and a good team, and we were not quite in sync. It was a grind, but that's part of being a good team is being able to grind. I can't say we played phenomenally well, but we didn't give up."

After four matches, the Kings share second in the south with the Briercrest College Clippers (3-1). Both teams have six points in the standings. The SAIT Trojans (4-1) lead the pack, but have also played one more match. 

On Thursday, November 7, the RDC Kings (3-1) will face the Broncos (0-2) in Olds at 8:00 p.m.