By Larry Read

TRU Sports Information

KAMLOOPS, BC—The playoff hopes of the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women's volleyball team have suffered a setback. The WolfPack were swept at home by the University of Calgary Dinos.

The Dinos won on Saturday night (Jan 27) 3-1 over the WolfPack on the Warner Rentals Court. The scores were  25-22,25-17,22-25,25-17.

TRU drops to 7-13 on the year.  The Dinos move to 15-3.

 SYNOPSIS

The Dinos were hoping to clinch a playoff spot in their final road match of the regular season. They entered the match alone in second spot in the Canada West.  Calgary held as big as a three point lead in the first set but were up only one (16-15) going into the technical time out.  The Dinos won the first set 25-22 thanks to four kills from Laura McManes (5^th year, outside hitter, Winnipeg, MB).   Mikayla Funk (2^nd year, outside hitter, Surrey, BC) had six hills to lead TRU. 

The second set saw Calgary go on a 6-0 run with the score 7-5. This included two service aces by McManes. WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm switched setters down 15-7 bringing in Anastasiya Muzyka (1^st year, Poltawa, Ukraine) to replace Abby Spratt (2^nd year, Calgary, AB).   The Dinos led by 9 (16-7) going into the break. Jaylynn Moffatt (5^th year, middle, Calgary, AB) and McManes each had three kills in the second set powering Calgary to a 25-17 victory.

Facing another early night, the WolfPack came out with their strongest effort of the match in the third and took a pair of 3-0 runs to open up an 11-6 lead and went into the technical time out up 16-9.  Calgary came out of the time out on fire and clawed back to tie the set at 17. The set saw Kendra Finch (3^rd year, North Vancouver, BC) come in to play libero for the 'Pack as they won 25-22 to cut the deficit to 2-1.

In the fourth set, the teams battled again with Calgary leading at the technical time out.  The Dinos opened up a six point lead (19-13) and rolled to a 25-17 win.  They were led in that set by McManes with 4 kills.  She had a team high 11 on the night.

TRU was led by Yevgeniya Nyukhalov (1^st year, outside hitter, Severodontsk, Ukraine) with18 kills. That gives her at Canada West best 310 on the year.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: 

click here

KEY STATS:

Scores by set:

TRU             22   17   25  17   -1

Calgary       25   25   22  25   -3

TRU:

Rachel Windhorst  16 kills in 43 swings, 11 digs, 2 assists

Yevgeniya Nyukhalova   18 kills in 39 chances, 2 service aces, 8 digs, 2 solo blocks, 1 block assist

Kendra Finch (3^rd year outside hitter, North Van, BC) 18 digs

Abby Spratt (2^nd year, setter, Calgary, AB) :18 assists

Anastasiya Muzyka: 24 assists, 7 digs

Mikayla Funk (2^nd year, outside hitter, South Surrey, BC) 12 kills in 39 swings, 12 digs, 2 block assists

Calgary:

Laura McManes: 11 kills on 37 chances, 6 service aces, 8 digs, 3 block assists

Kate Pexman: 10 kills in 31 opportunities, 2 service aces, 10 digs, 1 block assist

Beth Vinnell: 10 kills in 19 swings, 2 service aces, 6 digs, 1 block assist

Leah Shevkenek: 33 assists, 9 digs, 1 block assist

RECORDS:

TRU:  7-13   Calgary: 15-3

QUOTES:

TRU head coach Chad Grimm:

On Match: "I thought we were better. Our battle level was better. In the first set we let them off the hook with some balls that we should have had. Communication or knowing who is going to go. We let them off three or four times. Against a quality team like Calgary, you can't do that. If we pick up those two, three or four balls the result might have been different. I thought the girls battled hard. There were some big swings on both sides. I thought we never looked out of it. Emotionally we were engaged and battled."

COACHES POST GAME VIDEO INTERVIEW:  click here

Calgary assistant coach Al Taylor:

On  clinching playoff spot: "The kids put in a lot of hard work. It gets down to the end of the season. It takes some of the pressure off. We knew that we were going to get in sometime. Its nice to see its official."

On what he liked about his team: "They just stuck with it.  We expected pushback from the WolfPack. And they gave it to us. They played better than last night. We landed a little soft in the third set. It is always going to be close."

COACHES POST GAME VIDEO INTERVIEW:   click here

UP NEXT:

The WolfPack have next weekend (Feb 2-3) off on a bye.  Calgary will return home to the Jack Simpson Gym to play host to the Trinity Western University Spartans.

TRU returns to action on Thursday, February 6, 2018 when they visit the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat. The teams will return to Kamloops to wind up the two match series on Saturday, February 10^th on the Warner Rentals court.

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

OF NOTE:    This match was The WolfPack's  "Bell Let's Talk" about mental illness awareness night.  Athlete and fans were wearing blue toques, writing messages of encouragement on thought bubbles and sending them out on social media.

 The "TRU Bookstore/McDonalds Leader of the Pack Player of the Match" was: Finch.