Larry Read, Thompson Rivers University Sports Information Officer
KAMLOOPS, BC: The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack 'bent but didn't break' as they went onto sweep the visiting University of Winnipeg Wesmen in Canada West men's volleyball action this weekend.
Playing at the Warner Rentals court at the Tournament Capital Centre on Saturday night (Nov 17), the Pack came back to take the final two sets to beat the Wesmen in five. The scores were 25-20,16-25,22-25,25-21,15-13.
TRU moves to 5-1 on the year while Winnipeg falls to 2-4.
Thompson Rivers was led offensively by Tim Dobbert again. The fifth year outside hitter from Aichelberg, Germany had 18 kills. Charlie Bringloe added 10. Winnipeg was led by Daniel Theissen with 14 kills.
The WolfPack and Wesmen battled out of the gate with Thompson Rivers reaching the technical time out first (leading 16-12). Thompson Rivers had a five point lead at one point which was whittled to three. With the score 20-17, head coach Pat Hennelly called a time out. The Pack went onto a five point victory (25-20) in the first set led by Charlie Bringloe (4th year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON) with three kills in seven opportunities. Winnipegs main offensive threat was Daniel Thiessen (2nd year, opposite, Winnipeg, MB) who had four kills in six chances.
The Wesmen came out in the second set and played their best volleyball of the weekend to date. They were up by five and went into the time out leading 16-8. Thompson Rivers cut the deficit to six at 20-14 which prompted Winnipeg to call a time out. That seemed to work, as they took the that set 25-16 to even the match at one.
That win spurred on the Wesmen as they took a two point lead (16-14) into the tech time out in the third set and took the lead in the match with a 25-22 victory in that set. Theissen had four kills in that set on 12 attempts.
In the fourth set, the teams battled back and forth but it was the WolfPack on top 16-12 at the time out. As they won the set. Dobbert had six kills to lead the TRU offense.
In the fifth set, the Wesmen took the early lead before the WolfPack drew even and took the lead to stay.
The WolfPack continues their homestand as they meet up with the MacEwan Griffins next Friday and Saturday (Nov 23-24) at the TCC. Winnipeg will entertain Mount Royal that same weekend. All those matches will be shown on a pay per view basis on Canada West TV.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
THEY SAID IT (Post Match Quotes):
TRU head coach Pat Hennelly:
Says Saturday's match was tougher than Friday's win: " And we expected that. We thought Winnipeg would play us a little tougher> We didn't play very well at the beginning. Guys started to look around again wondering what is going on. What was happening was we played a quality team. Full credit to Winnipeg, they played tougher and their defense was excellent. They really passed the ball quite a bit better tonight. The turning point tonight was when Cole Hansen went in there and executed plays in the fourth set. He relieved the pressure from the guys and showed if you go out and do your job, good things will happen. That comes sometimes from an unexpected source and this time it was Cole Hansen."
Coaches Video Post Game Interview: click here
Winnipeg head coach Larry McKay :
On the match: " I thought our effort tonight was as equally good as last night. We played pretty well. It was a good match and the better team won.
Coaches Video Post Game Interview: click here