Toze and Kings sweep visiting Broncos

Brent Forster - RDC

Red Deer, AB - Led by six-foot-four outside hitter Patrik Toze, the Red Deer College Kings downed the Olds College Broncos in three sets (25-15, 25-22 and 25-18).

"Good resiliency. Can't afford to get down like we did in each set. The third was ugly for a lot of it," said Kings Head Coach Aaron Schulha. "We got down 16-10 and then finished with a 15-2 run. Against any team in this league, you can't afford to do that."

Toze, who was selected the Collegiate Sports Medicine Kings Player-of-the-Game, powered the Kings' offence with 13 kills. The Bachelor of Kinesiology student added three digs, two stuff blocks and one service ace, while swinging for a 0.360 hitting percentage.

Carter Hills contributed 11 kills, eight digs, two aces and one assist for the Kings. Ben Holmes pounded eight kills from the left.

Holmes (10)

Libero Jonathan (JJ) Graham had six digs.

"JJ really has been quite impressive. He hasn't played a lot of libero for us over the two years. A lot of big digs late," explained Schulha. "Zak (Hallworth) is very capable and in all likelihood will give him the start tomorrow. It's nice to have those options and JJ is a very capable left side for us too. It makes it tougher for teams to scout."

Hallworth (5)

The depth of the seventh nationally ranked Kings gives Schulha several options. 

"Shae McIntyre is a good option on the left side too. We have the three very capable middles - four, but Dillon Gauci started a lot of the first half too," he said. "We have some different looks we can throw at teams, depending what matchups we want."

Ryzen Walkingbear was chosen as the Broncos top performer. Walkingbear totaled six digs, four kills and one ace in a hard-working effort.

Matheus Franca sparked the Olds College offence with 12 kills. He added four digs and two stuff blocks.

Six-foot-two Carter Hills had two of the Kings' five aces. Ryzen Walkingbear picked up the lone ace for the Broncos. 

"We had two guys go back and put a lot of service pressure on them, in Tom and Pat, and we were able to look after it," said Schulha. "We are trying to solidify a few things late in the second half and we did it some of the time, but not all of the time. It wasn't good enough and we have to make some changes for tomorrow."

Thomas Wass and Patrik Toze had an ace each.

The Olds College Broncos (4-17) will host the RDC Kings (15-4) on Saturday at 8:00 pm in Olds. The Kings have already made the playoffs, although the positioning of teams can change.