The Kings and Queens drop one set each but victorious nonetheless in Calgary

Calgary, October 20, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings and Queens Volleyball teams were successful in Calgary as they both took the match 3-1 against the SAIT Trojans.

See below for more information regarding each match.

Women's Volleyball – Queens 3 at SAIT Trojans 1

Unlike last week, the Queens were firing on all cylinders to open their match against the Trojans. But a 10-4 lead was slowly diminished by SAIT who battled back to tie it at 17. The Polytechnic stepped it up as they went on a 5-1 run, leading to a timeout called by the Trojans. After an attacking error by the Calgary team, RDP would take the first set 25-20.

But the Trojans would come out to battle in the second set and had the early lead over RDP. However, after a few attacking errors by SAIT, they saw their lead diminish and the Queens took a one-point lead. The Trojans could not battle back following their two timeouts as RDP cruised to a second set victory (25-21) off a quick attack out of the middle from Autumn Roos (Bachelor of Education).

After an early battle between the two teams, the Queens jumped out to a 15-11 lead off a kill by Morgan Boisvert (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) that was deflected out of bounds. This led to a Trojans timeout. But the Trojans continued to battle like they had all match as they looked to extend the match to a fourth set. They would find themselves up 24-21 but after some difficulty receiving the serve from Queens Rachel Perry (Business Diploma) and a close call on the line, the Trojans found themselves tied at 24 with the match on the line. After a neck-and-neck battle late in the third, the Trojans ultimately would take it 30-28 as they wiped a kill off the Queens block for the set point.

It was all Queens in the early goings of the fourth as they saw themselves up by six before the Trojans called a timeout. The Queens would continue to dominate throughout this final set as they would defeat the Trojans 25-18.

Outside-hitter Emma Holmes was named the player of the match after she co-led her team in kills with 10. Right-side Rachel Perry also had 10 kills in her second match as a Queen.

These two teams will be back at it tomorrow night in Red Deer.

Men's Volleyball– Kings 3 at SAIT Trojans 1

After a hard-fought victory last weekend, the Kings jumped out firing on all cylinders in the first set of the match and found themselves up 16-9. RDP was able to get back-to-back blocks, one on the outside and the other in the middle but on the Trojans third attempt, they would take the point. SAIT was still down 21-14. The Kings would take the first set 25-15 after outside-hitter Nicholas Possingham (Open Studies) wiped a kill off the Trojans block.

But SAIT would shake off this early defeat immediately as they forced Kings Head Coach Aaron Schulha to call a timeout as his team fell behind 15-11 in the early goings of the second. But the Kings managed to fight back and tie it up at 19 after some great serving by lefty Carter Hills (Bachelor of Kinesiology). The Trojans ended up finding their way back into the set as they would sneak a win away from the Kings with a 26-24 victory as SAIT would win a 50/50 ball at the net on set point.

Despite the upset in set two, the Kings jumped out to a huge 5-0 lead which forced the Trojans to call an early timeout. Following the short break, the Polytechnic's offence made the Trojans scramble on defence as RDP would take the next two points. The Trojans would finally score their first point of the set after the Kings went up 7-0 and fight back slowly to make it a two-point point difference in the late stages of the third set. But after a hard spin serve from outside-hitter Colby Nemeth (Bachelor of Commerce), the Kings would take the set 25-21.

On the brink of being defeated, the Trojans battled with the Kings in what was a neck-and-neck fourth set with both teams exchanging points with one another. But the Polytechnic would push in the late stages of the match to go up by five points. The Kings would score two consecutive points out of a SAIT timeout to take the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.

The Kings player of the game was awarded to outside-hitter Noah Carlson.

These two teams will be back at it tomorrow evening in Red Deer.