Raya Roesler leads the way for the Queens while the Kings sweep the Ratters

Red Deer, January 19, 2024 – The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens and Kings swept the Medicine Hat College Rattlers in three straights set on Friday evening.

See below for more information regarding each match.

Queens Volleyball – Medicine Hat College Rattlers 0 at Queens 3

In the early goings of the first set, these two teams were playing very close volleyball despite the Queens coming into this match in first place in the South Division with the Rattlers sitting in seventh. But after RDP earned six out of the next eight points, Medicine Hat would call a timeout. Outside-hitter Cianna Chalack (University Studies) came into the match following the short break and made a huge difference from the service line. She was able to help her team gain a couple of points back and make it a two-point game. The Rattlers would fight off two set-point rallies but fell 25-22 after outside-hitter Rachel Perry (Business Diploma) put away her third kill of the match.

The Queens jumped out to a quick start in the second set as they took a 13-6 lead into a Rattlers timeout. Despite a very close set in the second with RDP narrowly outscoring the visitors 12-11, Medicine Hat would fall 25-17 after middle-blocker Raya Roesler (Practical Nurse Diploma) closed out the set with her ninth kill.

Outside-hitter Morgan Boisvert (Bachelor of Arts in Psychology) started the third set well as she earned two kills and served three in a row to put the Queens up 5-1. Roesler would put away kill number 11 to give her team a 14-8 lead as they went into a timeout called by the Rattlers. She would finish the match with 13 and was named the player of the game for the Queens. Boisvert would continue her serving dominance as she served five in a row and extended the Queens lead to 10 before ending it with an error. The Bachelor of Arts in Psychology student would call the match with her sixth kill to take the third set 25-16 in the win.

Head Coach Talbot Walton explained Roesler played an outstanding match but the team also played well around her to make the first-year rookie effective in the win.

"Raya had a really good match. We passed the ball well which is very helpful for that middle-blocker position to be effective on offence. Raya has a really good skillset and is starting to understand post-secondary decision-making."

The Rattlers player of the match was awarded to middle Anica Haberstock (Bachelor of Education) who finished with nine kills and seven digs.

These two teams will face off in a rematch tomorrow afternoon at 1 pm in Red Deer.

Kings Volleyball – Medicine Hat College Rattlers 0 at Kings 3

Following a tight six points to open up the match, the Kings went on a 5-1 run to take an 8-4 lead into the Rattlers first timeout of the set. In the late stages of the first, outside-hitter Noah Carlson sent his bench flying with back-to-back blocks on consecutive plays on Rattlers outside-hitter Jordan McKee (Open Studies). A couple of points later the Kings would take the set 25-19 following a Medicine Hat College service error.

After middle-blocker Dillon Gauci served three consecutive serves, RDP would jump out to an 8-3 lead which forced Medicine Hat College to call a timeout. The Kings would cruise to a 25-12 victory to take the second set following a Rattlers attack error.

After facing multiple deficits throughout the set, outside-hitter Nicholas Possingham (Open Studies) would serve six in a row to give his team a 20-15 lead in the third with setter Tom Wass (Open Studies) earning two kills in this sequence. Wass would serve for the match as the Kings would take the third set 25-17.

Head Coach Aaron Schulha said there was still room for improvement following the win with the team but it was hard to stay focused in the match with a lot of missed serves from both teams.

"We have been focusing a lot of our time on the service piece and I thought we served the ball really well in the first set. But from that point on, it was hard to get any momentum in the match as they missed a lot of serves. The group knows that they can dictate the flow of the match with their serves but as soon as we start missing four or five in a match, it is just really hard to create any flow throughout the game."

The players of the match were awarded to Rattlers Nathan Chernik (Bachelor of Education) and Kings Carter Hills. Chernik finished with seven kills and four digs while Hills had five kills and one block.

These two teams will be back at it tomorrow for the second game of the doubleheader with the match kicking off at 3 pm.