Kings sweep the Trojans, Lauren Junck had 26 kills in the four-set victory for the Queens
Red Deer, October 21, 2023 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings and Queens sweep the SAIT Trojans in ACAC Volleyball action to end their weekend with back-to-back victories against SAIT.
The Queens would drop the first set but would bounce back to win the next three to take the match. On the other hand, the Kings needed just the minimum to defeat the Trojans.
Please see below for more information on each match.
Women's Volleyball – SAIT Trojans 1 at Queens 3
The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens finish their weekend dropping just two sets in their two victories against the SAIT Trojans.
In tonight's match in Red Deer, the Queens offence was led by second-year outside-hitter Lauren Junck (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) who finished the match with an incredible 26 kills on 44 attempts.
Head Coach Talbot Walton explained this kind of stat line you rarely see in women's volleyball.
"Twenty six kills is a massive night in women's volleyball. I have seen that number maybe in five-setters I do not think I have ever seen that in a four-setter. She definitely was making some really intelligent angles at the start which led to the Trojans not knowing where to set their block with her kill range from sideline-sideline."
But it was neck-and-neck between these two teams in the early goings of the match. The Trojans finally would solve the Queens offence to take a small two point lead near the halfway point of the set. But the Queens battled back to take the lead. The Trojans were not out however, as they fought hard and managed to regain their lead and go up by three points on the Queens, putting pressure on the home team as they faced set point. The Polytechnic would battle back to within one but on the next point the Trojans would take the first set 25-23.
The Queens bounced back to win the next three sets (25-23, 25-17, 25-18) to take the match. Setter Dani Wiens (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) was lethal from the service line in the third set as she helped her team get to set point. But the Trojans countered with a service streak of their own from outside hitter Sarah Henriksen (Business Administration) who made it a much closer set than it was before she hit the service line. The Trojans ultimately dropped the set 25-17.
The players of the game were awarded to Trojans Grace Florence (Culinary Arts) and Queens Rachel Perry. Florence finished her night with 21 assists and also four kills from the setting position. Perry had 10 kills but also big defensively digging up nine balls.
The Queens will be back in action next weekend as they head down to Calgary to take on the Ambrose University Lions on Friday. The Trojans will have a matchup with the Olds College Broncos at Rally Pointe next Friday at 6 pm.
Men's Volleyball – SAIT Trojans 0 at Kings 3
The Red Deer Polytechnic Kings just needed the bare minimum to defeat the SAIT Trojans after winning in four sets the night before.
Setter Brett Theise (Bachelor of Business Administration) ran an efficient offence for the Kings as he finished the match with 24 assists. As for the Trojans, they just could not seem to run their offence with the Kings throwing tough serves at them in the three sets as the Trojans just had 15 kills on 50 attempts.
Outside-hitter Colby Nemeth (Bachelor of Commerce) was huge for the Kings in the late stages of the second and the start of the third as he forced SAIT to scramble on offence with that tough spin serve.
Head Coach Aaron Schulha explained Nemeth's service game has gotten even better than where it was last year.
"His serve was a pretty good weapon for us last year. But after playing a ton of beach and grass volleyball in the United States, he came back with a much better hand contact and it shows every day in practice that it is a better serve this year. It was a big difference today. He just had three aces but he also managed to put the Trojans into trouble on their serve receive."
The Kings would take the first set 25-22.
In the second, down 19-15, the Trojans managed to crawl back within two but that was the closest they were going to get as they fell 25-17 after Nemeth served five fast spin serves to close out the set.
The Kings would jump out to an early lead in the third after Nemeth went on another service run that ultimately was the difference in the set as the Polytechnic would defeat the Trojans 25-16.
Right-side Brett Lower (Bachelor of Science in Nursing) was named the player of the match for the Kings with 10 kills and five digs. On the other side of the court, outside-hitter Logan Williams earned the honours for the Trojans with five kills.
Both these teams will be back in action next weekend. The Kings will head down to Ambrose University to take on the Lions next Friday with the Trojans hosting the Olds College Broncos. Both matches will start at 8 pm.