RDP Kings and Queens sweep the Ooks to come home with four victories on their road trip
Edmonton, November 4, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings and Queens finished their weekend on the road with two straight-set victories over the NAIT Ooks to come back to Red Deer with all four wings.
See below for more information regarding each match.
Women's Volleyball – Queens 3 at NAIT Ooks 0
In the late stages of the first set, defensive specialist Frankie Sandini (Justice Studies) was subbed into the match to serve. She managed to serve four in a row which put the Queens up 23-18. Sandini regularly is a libero for the Queens but in tonight's match, Madelyn DeZutter (Bachelor of Education) was dressed as the libero. Following RDP giving up one point, outside-hitter Lauren Junck (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) picked up back-to-back kills to close out the set and give the Queens a 25-19 victory in the first.
Middle-blocker Abby Lowe (Bachelor of Education) would put the Queens in the lead late in the second as she went five in a row from the service line including a couple of aces. After the Ooks ended the streak, the Queens would score four consecutive points including a huge kill from outside-hitter Jaiden Ferguson (Business Administration) to clinch a 25-18 second set victory.
The Queens came out firing on all cylinders and jumped out to a 6-2 lead early on in the third set as they looked to make quick work of the Ooks tonight in ACAC Volleyball action. Despite a fight early on in the third, NAIT would fall 25-15 to the Queens after a run late in the match by RDP that put them up by six which the Ooks could not recover from.
Outside-hitter Lauren Junck was awarded the player of the game. She finished with 10 kills and led the team in this category.
The Queens will finish their three consecutive games away from home next week Friday as they head back to Edmonton to face off with The Kings University Eagles, who sit near the top of the North Division as of this weekend.
Men's Volleyball– Kings 3 at NAIT Ooks 0
The Kings would open up the match with a 25-21 first-set victory. But it was not as close as the final score made it look with RDP coming out strong in the Ooks gym and the Kings allowing NAIT to come back into the match. Following a timeout by the Ooks after going down by eight, NAIT would come back and make it much closer in the end falling short by four points.
Despite the Polytechnic's first set victory, the Ooks would come out strong in the second and jumped out to an early 6-1 lead which forced Head Coach Aaron Schulha to call a timeout. On the following play, the Ooks would serve the ball out of bounds to put the ball back in the hands of the Kings which was an important shift as the Polytechnic would go a 7-2 run to tie the game up at eight backed by some great offence from outside-hitter Noah Carlson (Open Studies). After a late surge in the set to retake the lead and some great serving from middle-blocker Spencer Purdie (Open Studies), the Kings would take the second 25-18.
The Kings started out the third set very well but would fall behind late in the set as the Ooks found their groove and looked to avoid the sweep on their home court. However, the Polytechnic managed to tie it up at 23 after a big block in the middle from Purdie. Ultimately, the Kings pushed for the two-point lead and found it as they defeated the Ooks 27-25 in the third set to take the match three sets to zero.
The player of the game was awarded to middle-blocker Dillon Gauci (Bachelor of Kinesiology) who led the Kings with five kills tonight.
The Kings will finish their three consecutive matches away from home next week as they will be back in Edmonton to take on The Kings University Eagles on Friday in their only match of the weekend as they will have the bye on Saturday.