We present a simplified version of a repeater protocol in a cold neutral-atom ensemble with Rydberg excitations optimized for two-node entanglement generation and describe a protocol for quantum teleportation. Our proposal draws from previous proposals [B. Zhao et al., Phys. Rev. A 81, 052329 (2010); Y. Han et al., ibid. 81, 052311 (2010)] that described efficient and robust protocols for long-distance entanglement with many nodes. Using realistic experimental values, we predict an entanglement generation rate of similar to 25 Hz and a teleportation rate of similar to 5Hz. Our predicted rates match the current state-of-the-art experiments for entanglement generation and teleportation between quantum memories. With improved efficiencies we predict entanglement generation and teleportation rates of similar to 7.8 and similar to 3.6 kHz, respectively, representing a two-order-of-magnitude improvement over the currently realized values. Cold-atom ensembles with Rydberg excitations are promising candidates for repeater nodes because collective effects in the ensemble can be used to deterministically generate a long-lived ground-state memory which may be efficiently mapped onto a directionally emitted single photon.