By Larry Read

TRU Sports Information Officer

KAMLOOPS, BC—The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack led in every set as they won the 'second ' of a weekend Canada West women's volleyball series at the Tournament Capital Centre.

Playing Saturday (Jan 20) on the Warner Rentals court, the 'Pack beat the visiting University of Saskatchewan Huskies 3-1.  The scores were 26-28,26-24,25-14,25-8.  The victory followed a five set loss to Saskatchewan on Friday night (Jan 19).

TRU remains in the playoff hunt with a 7-11 record.  Saskatchewan falls to 9-9.

The WolfPack were led offensively by Rachel Windhorst for the second straight night. The fourth year outside from Surrey, BC had 15 kills.   The Huskies main offense came off the arm of Taylor Annala ((3^rd year outside hitter, Dinsmore, SK) with nine kills.

SYNOPSIS

The Huskies jumped out to a 4-2 lead in the first set before Kendra Finch (3^rd year, outside, North Vancouver, BC) started to serve and brought her team even at 5-5.  The WolfPack got some timely kills and blocks and jumped to a five point lead going into the technical time out leading 16-9.  The Huskies clawed their way back to a two point deficit thanks to a serving run by Georgia Hurry (4^th year, middle, Summerland, BC) and trailed 18-16. After TRU took a time out leading 24-23, the Huskies scored twice to take a 25-24 advantage. The teams traded points before Saskatchewan pulled out a 28-26 victory.

In the second set, TRU led 7-3 until they committed five straight attack errors which allowed Saskatchewan back into it.  The Huskies scored seven points in a row to force Pack head coach Chad Grimm to call a time out down 9-7. They continued their momentum and jumped to a four point lead (13-9). Morgan Rigelhoff  (3^rd year, outside hitter, St. Albert, AB) came into the match and delivered two straight service aces  en route to a 16-14 advantage going into the technical time out. TRU led 24-20 and held off a Husky rally to win the second set 26-24.

The third set opened the same way as the previous two, with TRU taking a big lead and headed into the tech time out up 16-6.   Yevgeniya Nyukhalova (1^st year, outside hitter, Severodontsk, Ukraine), the Canada West kills leader paced the 'Pack in this set with five kills giving her10 in the match at that point.

The Huskies couldn't recover and the WolfPack led the fourth set from start to finish up by 12 at one point (19-7). They won the match on a service ace from Carly Gunter (3^rd year, outside, Courtenay, BC), her second straight.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: 

click here

KEY STATS:

Scores by sets:

TRU                          26   26   25   25 -- 3

Saskatchewan:      28    24   14    8 --  1

TRU:

Rachel Windhorst 15 kills in 38 opportunities, 6 digs, 1 assist

Yevgeniya Nyukhalova 12 kills in 32 swings, 9 digs, 2 service aces

Kendra Finch (3^rd year outside hitter, North Van, BC) 17 digs, 8 kills in 20 chances, 1 service ace

Mikayla Funk (2^nd year, outside hitter, South Surrey, BC) 8 kills in 20 swings, 7 digs, 6 service aces

Abby Spratt (2^nd year, setter, Calgary, AB) 23 assists, 4 digs, 3 service aces

Kaitlin Lomas (5^th year, middle, Ponoka, AB) 6 kills in 11 chances, 4 d9gs, 2 solo blocks, 3 block assists

Anastasiya Muzyka (1^st year, setter, Poltawa, Ukraine) 19 assists, 3 digs, 1 service ace

Katie Ludvig (1^st year, libero, Kamloops, BC) 8 digs

Saskatchewan:

Taylor Annala: 9 kills in 32 attempts, 1 serv9ce ace, 8 digs, 1 solo block, 2 block assists

Emily Koshinsky: 6 kills in 23 chances, 6 d9gs, 1 service ace

Georgia Hurry: 4 kills in 9 swings, 3 digs

Jenelle Sokoloski: 10 digs

Michelle Pek: 18 assists, 2 service aces

RECORDS:

TRU:  7-11 SASKATCHEWAN: 9-9

QUOTES:

TRU head coach Chad Grimm:

On what he told his team before the third and fourth sets where they turned it on: "We did a better job on picking up on picks and rolls. We made them score the ball a little bit more. We didn't let them get out of jail in bad situations. We served the ball tough and Sask struggled on serve/reception.  Teams know that once you pass off the net, blocks can set up. Kaitlin in the middle closed the blocks and put them in trouble."

On veterans Windhorst and Lomas leading :  "They stepped up. Lomas did good job of scoring points but also on the service line. We struggled a little bit in the first set and missed some serves when times got a little bit nervous. She took it in her own hands and served some tough balls at critical times. That was nice to see."

COACHES POST GAME VIDEO INTERVIEW:  click here

Saskatchewan coach Mark Dodds (3^rd year,):

On match: " A tough loss. To lose 25-8 in any set at any point in the season doesn't feel real good. We need to take a long hard look at this match and figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again."

On the third set: " I think their consistency seemed to take over. We battled back and battled back. It is tough to play .  As you saw, it took its toll and went their way."

COACHES POST GAME VIDEO INTERVIEW:  click here

UP NEXT:

 TRU's four match home stand will continue next weekend (Jan 26-27) when the University of Calgary Dinos pay a visit to the Tournament Capital Centre.  The Huskies return home to entertain the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat.

All of those matches will be webcast on a pay-per-view basis on www.Canadawesttv.com.

OF NOTE:   The "TRU Bookstore/McDonalds Leader of the Pack Player of the Match" was: Lomas.