By Larry Read
TRU Sports Information
KAMLOOPS, BC: The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack ralled from a first set deficit and downed the visiting University of Calgary Dinos 3-1 in Canada West men's volleyball action on Friday (Jan 26).
The scores were 17-25,25-17,25-23,25-19 as the WolfPack won their fifth in a row. The loss was Calgary's third straight.
The Dinos are 10-7 while the Pack move to 8-11.
Tim Dobbert and Josh Mullaney were the big offensive keys for the WolfPack with 16 and 12 kills respectively. Tim Taylor had 14 for the Dinos
SYNOPSIS
The Dinos took the first set as they got three kills from both Tim Taylor (3 year, outside hitter, Sydney, AUS) and Alex Bader (5th year, outside hitter, Calgary, AB). They won the set 25-17.
The WolfPack came back to take the second set by the identical score. Joshua Mullaney (3rd year, outside hitter, Calgary, AB) had three kills in six attempts in that set. Liam Laidlaw (2nd year, middle, Calgary, AB) had four kills in four swings for the Dinos in that set.
The third set saw the teams battle hard again with the WolfPack leading 16-12 going into the technical time out. Calgary rallied but a kill by Tim Dobbert (4th year, outside hitter,Aichelberg, Germany) gave TRU the third set win 25-23. Dobbert had eight kills in that third set alone and gave him 11 on the match at that point.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
KEY STATS:
Scores by sets:
TRU 17 25 25 25 --3
Calgary: 25 17 23 19 --1
Calgary:
Tim Taylor: 14 kills in 27 chances, 3 digs, 1 solo block, 1 block assist
Alex Bder: 9 kllls in 28 opportunities, 5 digs, 1 block assist
Liam Laidlaw: 6 kills in 13 swings, 3 digs, 1 solo block, 3 block assists
Blain Cranston: 24 assists, 2 service aces, 9 digs, 3 block assists
TRU
Tim Dobbert: 16 kills in 38 swings, 2 service aces, 4 digs
Josh Mullaney: 12 kills in 34 chances, 2 service aces, 4 digs
Sam Taylor Parks: 6 kills in 8 opportunities, 1 solo block, 6 block assists
Anton Napolitano: 35 assists, 3 service aces, 5 digs, 1 solo block, 2 block assists
Landon Currie: 11 digs
RECORDS:
CALGARY: 10-7 TRU: 8-11
QUOTES:
TRU head coach Pat Hennelly:
On the match: "There was a lot of nerves on both sides of the court today. A little bit different than Saskatchewan as both teams were little more free wheeling and the play was flowing. Sam kept us in the game with his excellent play at the net. They followed him around all night. They made a point of stopping Sam which opened up Dobbert and Mullaney. Credit to Sam for his leadership and for the rest of the guys to stick around enough to get it going.
On Middles being strong; "Absolutely. Jordan Foot (5th year, Prince George, BC) is ready go. We have three good middles. We knew that was a strength going in. We are going to continue utilize that when we need a change up. That is number one on the list because that position is so tight with three good players."
Coaches Video Post Game Interview: click here
Dinos coach Rod Durrant (12th season):
On match: "We thought the first set went well for us. In the second they played a lot better. The third set was a real good battle—25-23. The fourth set we couldn't get our serve receive together. That along with them making better choices hitting. They passed better than we did and we gave them a lot of free points on our serving."
Coaches Video Post Game Interview: click here
UP NEXT:
The two teams will go at it again tomorrow (Sat, Jan 27) on the Warner Rentals court at the Tournament Capital Centre starting at 6:45 pm.
Next weekend (Feb 2-3), the WolfPack have a bye while the Dinos entertain the Trinity Western University Spartans at the Jack Simpson Gym.
All of the above matches will be shown on a pay-per-view basis on www.CanadaWesttv.com.
OF NOTE: This match was sponsored by B100 Radio in Kamloops, BC and was support for victims of Sexual Harassment Awareness night. That portion of the night included an informational video played on the webcast as well as announcements during the matches.
The "TRU Bookstore/McDonalds Leader of the Pack Player of the Match" was: Taylor Parks.