By Larry Read
TRU Sports Information Officer
KAMLOOPS, BC: The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack might have had two weeks off, but they showed very little rust as they grinded out a straight set victory over the University of Winnipeg Wesmen in Canada West men's volleyball action on Friday night (Nov 16).
The scores at the Tournament Capital Centre were 26-24,32-30, 29-27 as the WolfPack won their fourth straight match to raise their record to 4-1. Winnipeg fell to 2-3.
Tim Dobbert led the way for the Wolfpack as he had 19 kills to be named the "TRU Bookstore/McDonalds Leader of the Pack" player of the match. He added seen digs and two service aces. Charlie Bringloe had 13 kills and four service aces while Anton Napolitano (3rd year, setter, Victoria, Australia) had 34 assists.
Winnipeg was led by Adrian Dyck with 12 kills. Daniel Thiessen had 11 kills for the Wesmen who got 34 assists from Mikael Clegg (4th year, setter, St. Andrews, MB).
SYNOPSIS
The WolfPack jumped out to an early lead in the first set but the Wesmen went on a big run to tie things up at 24. After TRU head coach Pat Hennelly called a time out, his club came out and took the next two points to win the set. Tim Dobbert (5th year, outside hitter, Aichelberg, Germany) led the way for TRU with six kills while Charlie Bringloe (4th year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON) had 4 kills in the opening set. Winnipeg was led by Adrian Dyck (4th year, outside, Winnipeg, MB) who had four kills in eight swings while Garrett Jones (5th year, middle, Winnipeg, MB) and Daniel Thiessen (3rd year, opposite, Winnipeg, MB) each had three kills.
The second set was a marathon with both teams scoring over 30 points. The teams see sawed and there were seven set points turned over. Dobbert had 11 kills in that second stanza while Dyck had six.
Winnipeg came out strong in the third set and jumped to a two point lead and led 16-15 going into the technical time out. It was their first of the match. But the WolfPack rallied to win thanks to eight kills from Bringloe. The match was won on a block by TRU middle Sam Taylor Parks (4th year, Kelowna, BC). He had one solo and two block assists.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
(being edited)
KEY STATS:
Scores by sets:
TRU 26 32 29 ---3
WINNIPEG: 24 31 27 ---0
WINNIPEG:
Adrian Dyck: 13 kills in 30 opportunities, 4 digs
Daniel Thiessen: 11 kills in 31 swings, 3 service aces, 9 digs
Garrett Jones: 7 kills in 11 chances, 3 digs, 3 block assists
Mikael Clegg: 34 assists, 5 digs
TRU
Tim Dobbert: 19 kills on 42 swings, 2 service aces, 7 digs, 1 block assist
Charlie Bringloe: 13 kills in 27 chances, 4 service aces, 3 digs, 3 block assists
Anton Napolitano: 41 assists, 2 service aces, 8 digs, 2 block assists
Sam Taylor Parks: 6 digs in 10 chances, 3 service aces, 1 dig, 1 solo block, 2 block assists
Landon Currie: 7 digs
RECORDS:
TRU: 4-1 WINNIPEG: 2-3
THEY SAID IT (Post Matc Quotes):
TRU head coach Pat Hennelly:
On the match: " We had expectations of how we thought the game was supposed to go. Both sides struggled to be very decisive at certain times. Happy to get those big wins. They could have gone either way. I feel that we escaped it a little bit today."
On two week layoff—did he think his team would be nervous? " There is always that concern. I am not used to the two weeks off and don't think nerves were necessarily the issue. I think it was standing around and expecting stuff. Winnipeg had a starter out tonight. Austin Anderson (of the Wesmen) came out and did a great job tonight doing things we weren't expecting. Hopefully the lesson we learned is that you have to adapt as an elite athlete. I don't think we did a great job in that way tonight."
Coaches Video Post Game Interview:
TRU outside hitter Tim Dobbert (5th year, outside hitter, Aichelberg, Germany):
On the match: " It wasn't easy. We felt great but we made some small mistakes. They came back. Our energy was up and down. Considering we have been off for two weeks, we had some good energy and everyone played great."
Dobbert's Video Post Game Interview:
Winnipeg head coach Larry McKay ( season):
On match: "We did make it a battle in the second and third sets.
Coaches Video Post Game Interview:
UP NEXT:
The WolfPack and Wesmen will wind up their weekend series tomorrow (Nov 17) on the Warner Rentals Court at the Tournament Capital Centre. Game time is 6:45 pm.