Queens sweep Keyano College while the Kings tame the Huskies in five sets

Red Deer, January 13, 2024 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens started off the 2024 calendar year with a three-set-sweep of the Keyano Colleges Huskies on Saturday evening while the Kings needed five sets to defeat the Huskies.

See below for more information regarding each match.

Queens Volleyball – Keyano College Huskies 0 at Queens 3

In this interdivisional match, the Huskies, who are ranked number four in the North Division, found themselves up early in the opening set but multiple serving errors caused the Queens to stay in the game. This ultimately led to the Polytechnic going on a 7-1 run to take a four-point into Keyano's first timeout of the match. RDP came into this match as the number one seed in the South Division. After a kill by Huskies outside-hitter Hannah Shelemey kept her team in the match, a service error led to the Queens taking the first 25-18.

The Queens kept the momentum on their side of the court for the first few points of the set with outside-hitter Emma Holmes (Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences) backing her team up from the service line as she opened up the second serving five in a row. RDP kept pushing from there and would take a 13-8 lead into a brief timeout called by Keyano College. The Queens would take the second set 25-15 following a kill by outside-hitter Morgan Boisvert (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology).

Down 2-0 in the match, the Huskies showed adversity in the third set and managed to battle back within one point of the Queens after falling behind in the early goings of the set. Keyano was able to tie it up at 15 apiece but the next two points went to the Polytechnic which led to a Huskies timeout.  But the Queens would go on a 10-3 run to close out the match with a 25-18 victory.

Head Coach Talbot Walton explained he is quite impressed with the team's effort tonight considering they haven't played any league matches in the last seven weeks.

"It took a little while but we started settling into our game mode part way through the first set. Dani Wiens distributed the ball well to her hitters and did a really good job finding our middles. Our middles finished with 13 kills combined which is a good offensive output."

The players of the match were awarded to Huskies middle Amanda Onyeukwu (College Preparatory) and Queens libero Frankie Sandini (Justice Studies). Onyeukwu finished with five kills while Sandini was all over the court digging up the ball and finished her night with 14 digs.

The Queens will be back in action for a rare Sunday afternoon game as they welcome the Lakeland College Rustlers to town while the Huskies next match will be at home against the Rustlers next Friday at 6 pm.

Kings Volleyball – Keyano College Huskies 2 at Kings 3

The Kings came out firing on all cylinders tonight against the Huskies as they jumped out to an early 8-3 lead. But the five-point lead was slowly diminished by some great serving and attacking by Keyano College to make it a one-point game in the very early stages of the match. After the Kings took an 18-16 lead following a Huskies service error, the visitors called a timeout. However, out of the short break, the Huskies were able to take a 24-23 lead into the Kings second timeout of the set. Ultimately, Keyano College took the first set 25-23 following an RDP killing error on the ensuing play.

It was yet another back-and-forth set between these two teams, who met up in last year's championship semi-final with the Kings sweeping the Huskies in straight sets to book RDP's ticket to the final. But tonight in the second set, Keyano College took a 16-14 lead into a Kings timeout. RDP was able to flip the switch and turn the tables out of the short break as they went on an 8-4 run. Out of a Huskies timeout, Keyano scored three consecutive points to make it a one-point match. On the following play, outside-hitter Carter Hills (Bachelor of Kinesiology) was able to wipe a kill off the Huskies block to take the set 25-23.

The Huskies were able to shake off the second set loss and were looking to take that very important 2-1 lead in the match. Keyano was able to force RDP to call the first timeout of the set following an ace by rookie Rafael Parada (Academic Foundations). After the Kings came back and made it close, the Huskies took the set 25-22 following an RDP killing error.

Down 2-1 in the match, the Kings put the third set loss aside and came out swinging as they jumped out to an 8-3 lead which forced the Huskies to call an early timeout. Later on in the set, after a service error by the Huskies put the Kings up 20-16, Keyano used their second and final timeout of the set. Following a service error by the Huskies, the Kings would force a fifth set with a 25-22 set victory in the fourth.

In the fifth set, the Kings jumped out to an 8-4 lead before the teams swapped sides and continued on with the match. Following a service error, the Kings would take the set 15-13 and defeat the Huskies in five sets.

Head Coach Aaron Schulha explained it was good to get back into the win column following two tough matches against the Lethbridge College Kodiaks to end the first half of the season.

"A win against the Huskies is always a huge feat especially when they have a couple of big hitters on the team like Joao Cunha. But I thought tonight our boys showed a lot of adversity as we dropped the first set but finished off the match winning the final two to take the match. It just shows the depth of this team and that we will not stop fighting even when we are down."

The players of the match were awarded to Huskies outside-hitter Joao Cunha (Open Studies) and Kings outside-hitter Colby Nemeth (Bachelor of Commerce). Cunha led the match with 24 kills with Nemeth right behind him with 19.

Keyano will be back in action next week with the Huskies welcoming the Lakeland College Rustlers while the Kings will play host to the Rustlers tomorrow evening at 5 pm in Red Deer.