RDP's Lower ignites epic rally past Briercrest College

Brent Forster - Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics

Red Deer, AB – With a depleted lineup, the Red Deer Polytechnic Kings dug deep.

Missing key student-athletes (Cody Boulding, Reece Lehman, Maddux Greves), the Kings rallied from two sets down to defeat the Briercrest College Clippers in five (22-25, 22-25, 25-15, 25-23 and 15-10).

"There were a lot of good things from our young guys," said Aaron Schulha, Red Deer Polytechnic Kings Volleyball Head Coach. "All three outside hitters were first-year guys to finish the match which says a lot about the depth of the group, and a lot about the leadership against a team that is well coached and has a lot of fire power."

First-year outside hitters Brett Lower, Nicholas Possingham, and Dante Furlan were strong, providing energy to the Kings' offence and comeback win.

"Lots of good signs for sure. Lots of good resiliency to come back, being down two-nothing, but just the way we got down two-nothing," said Schulha. "I thought we had a lot of opportunities that we squandered. Whether it was a bad serve or a bad pass here or there, or not enough energy." 

The perseverance from the young lineup was impressive. 

"Even getting down two, it didn't feel like we had enough energy and enough service pressure. They have some guys that we can pick on in terms of our service pressure, and I thought we did a better job of that later on, but the big thing was guys providing more energy," explained Schulha. 

"It took a little bit of those defensive points, big energy plays, whether it is a big stuff block or a dig to transition kill, I think those were the energy plays that we needed and the fire started to come out a little bit. With that being said, at the end, I thought we were a little bit too focused on their side, which will be a point of discussion." 

North Star Sports Kings Player of the Game Lower led the home team's offence with 26 kills.

"Lower was outstanding. I don't know if Carter [Hills] put up those big of numbers," said Schulha. "He had 26 kills on 42 attempts for 43 per cent efficiency." 

Clippers outside hitter Karym Coleman had a strong offensive match, totaling 27 kills (0.241), three blocks, two digs and an ace. 

"We know what number 11 [Coleman] can do. He's an All-Canadian and he put up very similar numbers to Lower," said Schulha. "We touched him up at key times and forced him into some errors."

Kings setter Brett Theise (53 assists) also connected with first-years Possingham (15 kills) and Furlan (10 kills). Libero Jonathan (JJ) Graham contributed nine digs and an assist. 

"Nic started off not overly efficient, but then got really efficient near the end. Forty-six per cent. Dante came in and made a huge difference. Zachary Neufeld wasn't playing terrible," Schulha said of the first-year outside hitter, who had a pair of kills (0.250 hitting percentage). "I just thought we needed a change. Dante went 10-for-11 with a couple of aces, and lots of energy."

Furlan

Middle Dillon Gauci had six kills and four blocks. 

"Dillon was really good for being out for awhile," said Schulha. "Came back and did what he should do."

Brady Watchel received the top player award for the Clippers, recording nine digs and two assists. Noah Dirsten and Davis Borden added nine kills apiece. Setter Jeremy Martens totaled 38 assists, four digs, one ace and a kill. 

RDP recorded eight service aces. Briercrest College had six.

"Thinking ahead to tomorrow, more consistent service pressure - that made a huge difference late in the match when we were forcing them to sideout," said Schulha. 

The first place Red Deer Polytechnic Kings (10-1) will host the second seed Clippers (7-2) on Saturday, January 29 at 3 pm, wrapping up the weekend series.

"It's a really good character win and hopefully we can build on that tomorrow," added Schulha.