The Red Deer College Kings will be looking to defend their ACAC men’s volleyball championship this weekend as they prepare to host the ACAC provincial tournament in Red Deer.
Over the course of the next three days, teams from all over the ACAC will face off to determine who will represent Alberta at the CCAA national championships in London, Ontario next month.
“Our hope is always to give ourselves a chance to win it and being at home is always nice. That should work to our advantage hopefully,” said Kings’ volleyball Head Coach Aaron Schula of his team’s goals over the course of the tournament, which kicks off on Thursday afternoon.
The Kings will start the weekend tournament at 6 p.m. Thursday evening when they take on the NAIT Ooks.
“We’ve got a very tough first round opponent in NAIT. I think they’re better than a three seed from what I’ve seen. They’ve beat the two teams that are ahead of them in the standings in the north so we’ll be in tough but this time of year you’ve got to be prepared to beat everybody,” Schula said.
The Kings got off to a great start to the weekend during the annual awards banquet and opening ceremonies on Wednesday morning as four Kings players were recognized for their outstanding play and contributions to the team this season.
RDC players Luke Brisbane, Regan Feathers, Ty Moorman and Michael Sumner, were all named to the ACAC South All-Conference Team, which were voted on by opposing coaches in the ACAC.
“Individually they’re all very, very solid. They’ve been great for the program and solid ambassadors for RDC,” said Schula of his players.
Brisbane, who is currently in his third year of the Bachelor of Commerce program at RDC, said it’s good to be recognized on an individual level.
“All the guys are very deserving. Ty, Regan and Michael had great years. It’s good to be recognized,” he said, adding the team is excited to get the tournament underway in front of their hometown crowd.
“I think all of us, as soon as we heard we were hosting, we’ve been looking forward to it. We’re feeling good, we’re looking forward to it and we’re just excited really.”
Meanwhile, RDC Queens women’s volleyball players Miranda Dawe and Megan Schmidt were named to the ACAC South All-Conference team during the ACAC women’s volleyball awards presentations at Lakeland College last night. The Queens will kick off their provincial tournament today at 3 p.m.
zcormier@reddeerexpress.com
