It was a successful week across multiple sports for Red Deer Polytechnic teams, highlighted by a national championship for the Kings men’s volleyball squad and a silver medal finish for the Queens women’s hockey team.

Kings Volleyball win national title

The Kings captured gold at the 2026 Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Volleyball National Championship, winning their 15th national title without dropping a set during the March 11–14 tournament in Edmonton.

Red Deer opened the tournament with a straight-sets victory over the Humber Hawks in the quarterfinals, winning 25-20, 25-18 and 25-14. Colby Nemeth led the Kings with 12 kills while hitting .529.

The Kings advanced with another three-set win over the Vancouver Island University Mariners in the semifinals, 26-24, 26-24 and 25-20. Nemeth recorded 22 kills while Brett Lower added 10.

Red Deer secured the championship by sweeping the College of the Rockies Avalanche 25-20, 25-20 and 25-23 in the gold medal match. Owen Langberg contributed 11 kills, an ace and three blocks, while setter Evan Mah finished with 36 assists.

Lower was named the championship tournament MVP. Nemeth, Mah and Langberg were selected as tournament first-team all-stars.

 

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Queens Hockey earn ACAC silver

The Queens women’s hockey team finished with silver at the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference championship series after a 1-0 overtime loss to the Lakeland College Rustlers on Sunday.

Goaltender Tora Ward stopped 42 shots in the deciding game.

Lakeland forced the deciding contest by defeating Red Deer 3-1 on Friday and 5-1 on Saturday. Hannah Lundquist and Kaedence Mollin scored the Queens’ goals in those games.

Several Queens players were recognized with conference honours. Mollin, Camryn Ward and Tora Ward were named to the ACAC women’s hockey first all-conference team, while Tasha Barsby earned second-team honours. Tora Ward and Mollin were also named Academic All-Canadians.

Kings Hockey drop two close championship games

The Kings men’s hockey team fell in the opening two games of its ACAC championship series against the SAIT Trojans.

SAIT won the opener 7-6 Friday at the Gary W. Harris Canada Games Centre. Mason Bueckert, Tyson Janzen, Sean Michalevich, Nolan Doell, Holden Knights and Deegan Mofford scored for Red Deer.

The Trojans followed with a 5-4 double-overtime victory Saturday in Calgary to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Bueckert, Alex Bernauer, Tanner Sklaruk and Carter Cormier scored for the Kings.

Queens Rodeo record top 10 finishes

The Queens rodeo team also posted two top 10 results at the Little Royal Rodeo hosted by Lakeland College.

Mattie Jensen placed seventh in pole bending with a time of 22.89 seconds on Sunday, while Kaybree Zunti finished eighth in the breakaway challenge with a time of 3.9 seconds on Saturday.

**With information provided by RDP Athletics

 

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