Lower and Kings sweep Trojans at Red Deer Polytechnic, improve to 7-0

Brent Forster - Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics

Red Deer, AB – A quick start from the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings helped set the tone for a three set win over the SAIT Trojans (25-17, 25-22 and 25-20).

Powered by Patrik Toze's four kills, the home team jumped out to a 9-2 edge. With fourth-year setter Maddux Greves at the service line, the Kings rattled off five consecutive points, including an ace, during that run. Ryan Zachary's three kills helped pull the Trojans within four (15-19), but they couldn't overtake the home side. Maddux Greves, a Business Administration General student, connected with middle Cody Boulding for a pair of kills and the Kings wrapped up a 25-17 win.

"The last couple of matches we've had quick starts, which is nice. There's definitely some things that we didn't like about tonight in terms of getting stuck in certain rotations," said Aaron Schulha, Red Deer Polytechnic Kings Volleyball Head Coach. "Number 14 [Jakob Olsson] got us in one in the first set - I think we lost seven or eight points in a row." 

Brett Lower's kill put the Kings ahead 11-9 in the second set. The visitors stayed within a pair courtesy of Ryan Zachary's sixth kill from the left (15-17). RDP's Jack Walton applied service pressure late and Red Deer's Brett Lower polished off a 25-22 decision with a kill from the right, his eighth.

Lehman (9) and Lower (5)

In the third set, a service ace from six-foot-five Jakob Olsson propelled SAIT ahead 5-0. The home team started to close the gap with kills from Patrik Toze. Middle Dillon Gauci and outside hitter Brett Lower pushed RDP ahead late and Maddux Greves capped off a 25-20 win with an ace, his third.

Gauci (18) and Lower (5)

"In the third set, getting down 5-0 you could see the maturity come through where the guys started to settle down a little bit and chip away at the lead," said Schulha. "They came back to 15 all and were able to pull away at the end, which was nice." 

Brett Lower was named the North Star Sports Kings Player of the Game. The first-year Bachelor of Science Nursing student contributed 16 kills, seven digs, and one assist while hitting for 0.714 per cent efficiency.

"I thought Lower had an outstanding match, and Maddux too," explained Schulha. "Other guys struggled at times, but it was nice to see Lower play beyond his years and Maddux has just been really steady for us all year. I kind of expect that at this point."

Along with three aces, Maddux Greves totaled 32 assists, two digs, one kill and one block.

Jakob Olsson received the recognition for the Trojans. Olsson had all four of the Trojans' aces, along with three digs and two kills. SAIT's Ryan Zachary led the way with 13 kills. Filip Florek added seven kills and Nicholas Berscht had five.

Australia's Patrik Toze accumulated 13 kills, three blocks and two digs. Middles Cody Boulding and Dillon Gauci combined for 10 kills.

Boulding (7)

Schulha assessed his team's play after seven undefeated matches. 

"I think we are in a good spot in terms that we are winning matches, but we all see room for improvement. I don't think we've played our best match, or even remotely close to a complete best match yet, which is good. We want to be peaking in February and March," said Schulha.

"That said, all of our opponents to this point have all had injuries. Lethbridge and SAIT in particular, significant injuries. We are not seeing their best lineups either. Every team, because of the history of this program and how well it usually does relatively speaking, we have to expect teams' best matches and that will continue especially as teams get healthy in the second half. It's just of matter of us continuing to do the same." 

On Saturday, December 4, the first place Red Deer Polytechnic Kings (7-0) and SAIT Trojans (3-4) will face each other in Calgary at 6 pm to wrap up conference play for Fall 2021 Term.

"Hopefully, we can look after it tomorrow in SAIT. It's a tougher gym to pass in and our passing struggled a bit at times today. We will have to figure some things out going into tomorrow," explained Schulha. "If we can figure that out and go into the break the way we want then we got that month to rest up and get back into the gym and make sure we are dialled in for a competitive second half."