The Kings make it five straight wins with a four set victory on the road

Lloydminster, November 19 - With a five-set thriller against a very tough Keyano College Huskies team, the Kings took that momentum in to the Lakeland College Rustlers gym on Saturday night.

Going into this match, Red Deer is currently riding a four-match win streak and sit in fourth place in the South Division. On the other hand, the Rustlers sit in fifth place with a 3-5 record after a four-set loss by the hands of the Olds College Broncos.

It was the Rustlers who would come out on top late in the opening set of the match before Kings Head Coach Aaron Schulha would call a timeout with his team down by two. The Kings starting six would erupt after a big block on the left-side that would go straight down to the floor, putting them down by just one in the late moments of the set. Facing set points, the Kings would call their final timeout of the set and would need three points to tie it up.

They got lucky with one point as the Rustlers hit their serve into the net but on the next play the Kings block would go too far. Lakeland College would take the first set 25-22. This was definitely a shocking revelation for the Kings with the Rustlers coming into this match in third last in the North Division, but before the match, they had to travel over five hours to get to Lloydminster. This is quite a long road trip for one day especially on gameday.

But that did not stop them from exploding to a great start in the second set before the Rustlers called a timeout after the Kings took an 8-3 lead. As the set moved on, the rust of the Kings fell off and it was liked they were playing RDP volleyball again which the whole nation knows all about. With a Kings service and kill error, it was all tied up at 24 in Lloydminster. They had their chance to take the set but with the errors the Kings put the Rustlers back into the match. However, those errors did not come back to bite them in the butt as they would take the second set 27-26 with a service ace that would hit the tip of the net and land right on the hardwood cleanly.

This victory put the momentum on the visiting team's side, and they continued to use that energy throughout the third set. The Rustlers fell behind late in the set which caused their coach to call a timeout when the Kings had a 20-16 lead. But the visiting team powered through to finish off the third set with a 25-21 victory after a back row attack from ACAC Rookie of the Year Brett Lower put it away for the Kings.

In a set that went all the way up to 30-28, it was the Kings who persevered through and won the match. Red Deer was given three match point opportunities, but the Rustlers were able to storm back and tie it at 25. This is where the big blocks have to happen as the team as to win by two which means on the set point, they have to come up with a block on the opposing team which is what the Kings did. Setter Jacob Hicks and middle Evan Ockerman were able to stuff the Rustlers outside-hitter to end the match.

The Kings walked away with two victories on this tough road trip but will face their toughest test next week when they take on the Lethbridge College Kodiaks at home for two matches starting on Friday, November 25 at 8 pm.

The Kings player of the game went to right-side Brett Lower (Bachelor of Science – Nursing), who is very much familiar with winning this award.