The 2012 volleyball season at Red Deer College is a big one for Leanne Price and her teammates on the Queens.
It’s her final year and so she would love to go out a winner. For the Queens it’s a chance to make the most of home court advantage as they are the host team for the ACAC championships Feb. 22-24.
Price likes their chances of being a team to beat this year due to their depth.
“We have a lot of good players coming off the bench so I think you could put in any player and they can come out and do the job,” said Price who hails from Acme, Alberta.
Head coach Talbot Walton says the excitement level regarding what the season holds is based on the potential each member sees in this edition.
“They recognize that we have a team that is laden with some talent both in our veteran roles and our first-year athletes as well,” he said. “We’ve been working hard over the previous three years to get to this point.”
The use of the term ‘chemistry’ is one which can be overused but Price said it really does mean a lot when teammates are friends off the court.
“It’s so easy to communicate and get along with each other. It’s so important. We feel comfortable with each other off the court and then on the court we trust each other,” she said. “We trust our setters to get the ball to where it needs to go, we trust our passers to get that pass and we just flow very well together.”
Hosting the provincial championship tournament hasn’t put any extra pressure on the team, said Price. Instead it’s increased their excitement as they look forward to hosting in their own gym, a place where the feeling is they should win.
“We are going to come out hard for sure,” she said. “We’re going to be working hard to come out on top in our home gym.”
The coach echoes those feelings and said this group is going to put in the effort to be a top contender even though they are guaranteed a spot in the provincial championships at the end of the regular season.
“This group wouldn’t be a group that would settle. We are never a program that settles on just qualifying. Our main goal and objective every single season is to be the best that we can be and if that means were finishing fourth, if that means we’re finishing first going in, it doesn’t matter,” Walton said. “We’re going in and we’re going to try and win it on that weekend.”
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