VB | Kodiaks hit snag in Red Deer

Jan. 26, 2018 - Both Kodiaks men's and women's team ran into toough competiton to open their weekend series in Red Deer on Friday night. The women fell in straight sets to second place Red Deer, while the men's comeback attempt fell short during a four-set loss. 

WVB | Queens serve a straight sets win  

Recap by Brent Forster – RDC

The Red Deer College Queens faced the Lethbridge College Kodiaks Friday evening in the RDC Main Gym, and their serving game kept the Kodiaks defence on their heels throughout the match. The Queens had many great performances and they rolled to a three-set victory. 

After Miranda Dawe gave the Queens a 6-5 lead in the first set with a kill from the left side, it seemed to give RDC momentum. McKenna Barthel, from Red Deer, was effective from the service line and the right side to help the Queens go on a 9-3 run and pull ahead 15-8. The RDC Queens kept the pressure on and earned a 25-15 victory. 

The Kodiaks defence seemed to have a difficult time picking up Chanelle Kayser's serve in the second set. Kayser put pressure on Lethbridge College's defence and had two service aces in the same series to give the RDC Queens a 9 point lead (15-6). Britt Davis picked up an ace late in the set and Megan Schmidtcapped off a 25-10 win with a kill. 

After the Queens trailed in the third set, they climbed back to tie it 7-7 with a Kayser-Schmidt block and a Miranda Dawe kill from the left side. Naomi Jardine, a Bachelor of Education student from Lacombe, pushed the Queens ahead by 8 points (19-11) with a kill from the left side. Jardine finished the match off 25-15 with a service ace.

Queens Volleyball Head Coach Chris Wandler appreciated the effort. "It was a continuation from last week. I thought that we played really well against Briercrest last weekend and we brought the same determination tonight," said Wandler. "Even though we didn't earn two W's last week, we were still in a good spot as a team and we knew that was the level that we needed to compete at for the rest of the year."

The Queens' serve was strong all match. "Our serve was on pace tonight," said Wandler. "It put the Kodiaks in a lot of difficulty and it made our defensive game that much more efficient." The RDC Queens accumulated 10 service aces. Kayser had 5 on her own. The setter from Calgary accumulated 35 assists, 2 kills and 4 digs.

Naomi Jardine was named the player-of-the-game for the Queens. Ashleigh Noel earned the award for the Kodiaks. Jardine totaled 10 kills, 3 assists and 8 digs. Noel picked up 1 kill, 14 assists and 4 digs.

"Naomi was solid - consistent. She is really good on the defensive side of things and controls the ball well," said Wandler. "That's what we needed from her coming in, and the fact that she got 10 kills, that was the bonus for us."

The second place RDC Queens (14-5) will host the third place Lethbridge College Kodiaks (10-7)on Saturday, January 27 at 1:00 p.m. 

MVB | Kings topple Kodiaks

Recap by Brent Forster – RDC 

The Red Deer College Kings faced the Lethbridge College Kodiaks Friday evening in the RDC Main Gym, and the Kings had several strong performances as they wrapped up a four-set home victory. 

Not much separated the two teams in the early stages of the first set. Kings middle Adam Turlejski played well at the net once again. A stuff block from the fourth-year Business Administration student gave the RDC Kings a 15-14 edge. Hamish Hazelden, from Esperance, Australia, took control in the latter stages and helped the Kings win 25-20 with several kills down the stretch.

Once the RDC Kings captured a lead in the second set they didn't relent. The Kings pulled ahead early (4-1) with strong net play from Hamish Hazelden and Mark DeWit. Turlejski recorded another stuff block to propel the Kings to a 16-9 lead. RDC outscored Lethbridge College 9-4 the remainder of the way and completed a 25-13 victory. 

The RDC Kings trailed in the third set and a kill by Ben Holmes from the left side brought the Kings within 3 points (9-12). When the Kings were down 17-19 Mark DeWit made an incredible play with his foot to keep the play alive and allowed the Kings to score a point. It seemed to spark the Kings momentarily and they took a 22-21 lead but the Kodiaks rallied late and captured the set 25-23.

After the Kings trailed 9-4 in the fourth set, they started to claw back into the match. Turlejski and Hazelden recorded kills, and Parker Biletsky put pressure on the Kodiaks defence with a string of serves. Ben Holmes picked up several kills from the left side and the Kings capped off the fourth set 25-20.

Kings Volleyball Head Coach Aaron Schulha liked the overall play of the Kings. "It was pretty solid match, minus the first ten points of the third set where we dug ourselves a hole. It showed a lot of character in the fourth set to battle back and pull away at the end," said Schulha. "Hamish Hazelden and Ben Holmeswere outstanding. Both of those guys had a little bit of swagger to their game today. Ben Hankins and Parker Biletsky also came in and did a really good job."  

Ben Holmes accumulated 12 kills, 2 assists, 1 service ace, 2 blocks assists and 5 digs. Hamish Hazelden was named the player-of-the-game for the Kings. Marcus Biesheuvel earned the award for the Kodiaks. Hazelden, a Kinesiology & Sport Studies student, was a force and contributed 18 kills, 6 digs, 2 stuff blocks and 2 block assists in the win. Biesheuvel finished with 35 assists and 6 digs. 

"Hamish Hazelden changes what the other team does from a blocking perspective being such a tall guy with long arms. Dax Whitehead, for them, is a very good player in our league and I thought that Hamish did a very good job neutralizing him for the most part. Whitehead will get his kills, so will Carter Hansen," said Schulha. "I thought that we did a pretty good job of neutralizing the left side attack. Michael Hummel, their middle, played a good match as well. But we wanted to make sure that we were slowing down Whitehead as much as we could and I thought that we did a pretty good job of that. A lot of that had to do with Hamish at the net."  

The Kings had a strong net presence and many student-athletes contributed. "Our blocking looked pretty solid. Our middles were a bit off offensively and defensively but I thought that our outside blockers did a much better job. Overall I thought the numbers speak for themselves," said Schulha.

"We had 5 stuff blocks and 10 block assists after the second set. We were rolling early on and touching them up. That has to do a lot with the service pressure we put on them. In the third set, we let off the gas with our serve and missed a pile. If we can look after our serve and put them into service trouble then it allows our block and defence to go to work."

The fourth place RDC Kings (10-9) will face the third place Lethbridge College Kodiaks (11-6) on Saturday, January 27 at 3:00 p.m.