Wass and Kings sweep the Trojans at home

Brent Forster - RDC

Red Deer, AB - The Red Deer College Kings made a statement Friday night against the south division leading SAIT Trojans. Backed by effective ball distribution from Kings setter Thomas Wass (28 assists), RDC rolled to a three set sweep over the visiting Trojans (26-24, 25-17 and 25-20).

"We've been talking the past couple of weeks about making a statement. We know we're capable of it, but we've been so Jekyll and Hyde," says Kings Interim Head Coach Blake Henwood. "A couple of tough road games the last few weekends too, so the guys were looking forward to coming back into this gym and playing against SAIT."

Five members of the Kings finished with five or more kills.

First-year Carter Hills led RDC with 10 kills. Red Deer's Ben Holmes had eight. Middle Mark DeWit finished with seven. Dillon Gauci recorded six and Patrik Toze added five.

Mark DeWit (8)

"I loved the way we served. We have some weapons from the service line, but we haven't been able to put a game together where all of them are firing together at the same time," says Henwood. "Pat Toze did an awesome job tonight, just setting the tone. Carter did a good job. Ben Holmes, I'm not sure if he missed one. It was a nice refreshing moment for us from an area of weakness from the first half."

Patrik Toze had three of the Kings' seven aces. Carter Hills picked up one service ace. Ben Holmes had an ace and no errors from the line. 

Ben Holmes (10)

For his strong effort, Thomas Wass was named the Collegiate Sports Medicine Kings Player-of-the-Game. 

"Tom is a great athlete. Coming into a match against one of the best setters in Canada, on SAIT, I think he took it a bit personal and thought he could hang with this guy and outplay him. I definitely think he outplayed him tonight," says Henwood. 

"He made some great choices and just some tight passes at the net that he was able to find our hitters and get some one-on-one blocks. It just looked like he was real comfortable tonight and full of confidence."

Trojans setter Maddux Greves stacked up 25 assists, four digs, one kill and one ace.

Riley Grusing was one of the Trojans' offensive weapons, contributing a game high 14 kills. He added a pair of digs and was named the Trojans' top performer.

Brendan Vanderlinde chipped in with seven kills and 12 digs for SAIT. 

The Kings (8-3) and Trojans (9-3) will meet on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. in Calgary.

"We got to follow it up tomorrow with a performance the same, if not, better," says Henwood. "We know they will play better."

Dillon Gauci (18)