By Larry Read

Thompson Rivers University Sports Information Officer

KAMLOOPS, BC:  Chalk up another learning experience for the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's volleyball team. The WolfPack took the number one ranked team in the nation—the Brandon University Bobcats to five sets in a very entertaining match on Saturday (Feb 2) at the Tournament Capital Centre.

The Bobcats prevailed 3-2 but it was by no means an easy victory.  The scores were  25-19,22-25,25-22,22-25,15-10.

Brandon moves to  18-2 while TRU falls to .500 at 9-9.

 SYNOPSIS

The Bobcats were led offensively by Elliot Viles (3^rd year, outside hitter, Adelaide, AUS) with 11 kills in 27 swings while Seth Friesen (4^th year, outside hitter, Brandon, MB)  contributed10 kills in 27 attempts.

The WolfPack were led by Tim Dobbert (5^th year, outside, Aichelberg, Germany). He had 12 kills in 37 attempts giving him 308 on the year-the most in Canada West.

Sam Taylor Parks (4^th year, middle, Kelowna, BC) had 11 kills in 18 opportunites. He had a solo block and three block assists  and was named the TRU Bookstore/McDonalds "Leader of the Pack" player of the match.   Charlie Bringloe (4^th year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON) had 10 kills in 41 attempts.

The WolfPack  were playing the second of their four final regular season home matches.  This was also their final regular season home match on the champ court at the TCC.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: 

click here

THEY SAID IT (Post Matc Quotes):

TRU head coach Pat Hennelly:

On the match: " The fans got their monies worth.  Full value. Brandon is battling through stuff. We kept telling our guys to stay in the match. A lot of times last year and this year we would have gone away with something that tough. We found our resiliency to keep coming back at those guys. We found our serves in the fifth set early. One key play when Kyle got that great dig. I think everyone was surprise especially Charlie. That would have made it 5-1. Full credit to Brandon. They are number one for a reason. They battled hard and they are looking good going into the post season."

Coaches Video Post Game Interview:  click here

Brandon head coach Grant Wilson (7^th season):

On match:  "It was quite the battle. Back and forth. Both teams took turns being really good. Both teams struggled at times. You didn't know what was going to happen until the very end.  Thankfully we found a way to pull it out. It was playoff volleyball a little early. It sure felt like it. That is what we want. We want to be pushed. We want tough matches down the stretch because it is going to be tough. Credit to Pat and his team, they played well."

Coaches Video Post Game Interview:  click here

UP NEXT:

The Saskatchewan Huskies will be in town next weekend (Feb 8-9).  It will mark the return of Nathan Bennett to Kamloops and TRU.   Bennett left the TRU women's program to take over as the head coach of the men's team in Saskatchewan.  The two game series will be played at the old  TRU gym due to a scheduling conflict at the Tournament Capital Centre.  It will also be 'retro' weekend where a number of teams from the school's  Cariboo College and University College of the Cariboo days will be honored.

The Bobcats have next weekend off and close the season off on home court Feb 15-16 entertaining he MacEwan University Griffins.