By Larry Read

TRU Sports Information

KAMLOOPS, BC:  It appears the last weekend of the Canada West regular season has turned into a playoff preview.

The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack will meet up with the number one ranked Trinity Western University Spartans in the first round of the playoffs next week. 

The WolfPack and Spartans wound up the regular season on Saturday night (Feb 17) with Trinity Western beating in three straight sets.  The scores on the Warner Rentals court at the Tournament Capital Centre were 25-20,25-21,25-18.

The Spartans captured first place with a 22-2 record.   TRU finished 8 th with an 11-13 record.

Trinity Western was led by Jacob Kern (3^rd year outside hitter, Edmonton, AB) and Eric Loeppky (2^nd year, outside hitter, Steinbach MB) with 11 kills each.   TRUs main offensive threat was Jordan Foot (5^th year, middle, Prince George, BC) with eight.

For the third match in a row, TRU's top gunner—Tim Dobbert (4^th year, outside hitter, Aichelberg, Germany)—sat in street clothes as he recovers from an injury.

Although both teams have made the post season, it was the last appearance for the WolfPack in 2011-18 on home court.  They honored their trio of fifth year players before match Foot,  Alex Cassels (East St. Paul, MB) and Randy Grundmann (Winnipeg, MB).

 SYNOPSIS

The WolfPack and Spartans got to work right from the get-go.  They battled point for point in the opening set. They were tied at five before the Spartans went up by two, one being a service ace from Jesse Elser (1^st year, outside hitter, Calgary, AB).   They went up by 3 (10-7) on a monster kill from Kern (and led 16-13 at the technical time out. Kern had three kills in the set for Trinity Western who were placed by Loeppky with five in eight opportunities. The Spartans took the first set 25-19.   Adam Schriemer (5^th year, setter, Winnipeg, MB) had 13 assists for Trinity.

TRU's main threat was Foot with two kills in six swings.

In the second set, the two battled once again with no team having more than a single point lead until Trinity Western went up 15-13 and eventually had a 16-14 advantage at the time out. Kern had six kills in the set as his team racked up 4.5 blocks in comparison to one for the WolfPack.  Foot continued to pace Thompson Rivers with three kills in the set to give him five on the match.   Charlie Bringloe (3^rd year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON) had three kills to give him four on the night while Sam Taylor Parks (3^rd year, middle, Kelowna, BC) had three kills himself in that set.

Moving to the third set,  The Spartans found a groove and opened up a three point lead (11-8) prompting WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly to call a time out.  That didn't dissuade the Spartans as they added four more to lead 16-8 at the break.   Down 20-10,  the WolfPack showed some life as they scored four in a row to cut the deficit to 20-14. Trinity Western prevailed though taking the third and final set 25-18

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: 

Click here

KEY STATS:

SCORES BY SET:

TRINITY WESTERN:     25     25   25  --3

TRU:                          19     20    18  --0

Trinity Western

Eric Loeppky:  11 kills in 25 chances, 11 digs, 2 block assists

Jacob Kern: 11 kills in 23 swings, 2 digs, 3 block assists

Jesse Elser: 8 kills in 16 opportunities, 5 digs, 3 block assists

Adam Schriemer: 31 assists, 5 digs, 1 solo block, 3 block assists

TRU

Jordan Foot (5^th year, middle, Prince George, BC):  8 kills in 15 chances, 1 dig, 1 block assist

Randy Grundmann (5^th year, outside hitter, Winnipeg, MB) 5 kills in 13 chances,3 service aces, 3 digs

Sam Taylor Parks (3^rd year, middle, Kelowna, BC) 4 kills in 13 swings

Charlie Bringloe (3^rd year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON): 4 kills in 18 tries, 4 digs

Anton Napolitano (2^nd year, setter, Victoria, Australia): 18 assists, 8 digs

Landon Currie (1^st year, libero, Vernon, BC) 7 digs.

RECORDS:

Trinity Western:   22-2            TRU:  11-13

QUOTES:

TRU head coach Pat Hennelly:

On the fifth year's final regular season night:"It is always bittersweet when five years comes to an end. Jordan and Randy have been two of my favorite guys over the last five years. Both came to practice every day. Especially Foot with a smile on his face. Both have grown. Jordan is playing better and better these last couple of weekends. That is what you want to see as a coach and that is what you should expect from your student-athletes. That they get better and better every year. Both epitomize that. I am proud of both of them and will miss them both."

On giving Trinity some pressure: " I got a little bit upset at the guys because I thought they were hanging around. I think Trinity was OK hanging around as a road team. We need to do a couple of things different especially blocking.  We kind of did the same block and had it hit off the top of our hands. We have to make adjustments faster. We did hang in there. There is a certain aspect of guys being OK with that against the number one team in the country. Trinity puts constant pressure on you from the service line and attacking and blocking. We need to decide to commit a little more. In the third set, I got upset. We were playing OK but its not going to be good enough against Trinity."

Coaches Video Post Game Interview:  click here

TRU Middle Jordan Foot (Prince George, BC):

On the five years here: " It seems crazy how fast it has gone. It seems like yesterday that I was moving into res. Over the five years you really learn about sacrificing yourself to make the team better. The progress we've made and hanging with these guys and seeing them develop: I couldn't ask for anything more."

Who were your influences and how did they rub off on you? "I would say Jacob Tricarico.  He was a fifth year when I was a rookie.  We were both middles. He told me that I had great potential and was like a big brother to me. He was so sincere. After that, I have tried to make every guy who comes here feel like I am his brother and feel that comrade.  It is hasn't worked with some guys but I was happy to pass that on."

Spartans head coach Ben Josephson (11^th year):

Finishing in first place:  "We are happy to earn home court advantage for the playoffs.  If we are going to lose someone has to come into our house to do it. That is awesome. We get to sleep in our own bed and eat our own food. That's great.  We have won more National championships than regular season titles.  That speaks to how difficult it is to win the Canada West regular season. You have to be great for 14 weeks without injuries. You have to have guys step up. It's difficult. What we just told the guys is that everything resets.  That (the regular season) was just to earn the right to play in your own gym. We start playing for real and see starting next week."

Comparing this team to other great Spartan teams of the past: "The biggest difference is how young this group is. We have never done this well with such a young group. All of our great teams of the past have been senior laden. With only one senior and one fourth, this team is driven by youthful talent. They are incredible. The difference is that they are very young. Very young kids aren't polished enough to make decisions under pressure situations of the playoffs.  I am really looking forward to that."

Coaches Video Post Game Interview:  click here

UP NEXT:  The teams will meet next week at the Langley Events Centre.

OF NOTE:   The "TRU Bookstore/McDonalds Leader of the Pack Player of the Match" were the team's three fifth year players.  Despite missing the last three matches, Dobbert still led the Canada West in kills per set (4.13), was fourth in overall kills (322) and Hitting percentage (.295).  Landon Currie (1^st year, libero, Vernon, BC) was third in digs per set (2.32) and fifth in total digs (190).

Loeppky of Trinity western led the league in hitting percent (.362), was fourth in kils per set (4.05) and second in  both total kills (356) and service aces per set (0.61).