By Larry Read
Thompson Rivers University Sports Information Officer
The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women's volleyball have 'righted the ship' and have emerged from this weekend's play in the Canada West with a pair of victories.
For the second straight night, the Pack took the visiting University of Winnipeg Wesmen in straight sets. The scores on Saturday (Nov 17) at the Tournament Capital Centre were 25-17,25-18,25-21.
TRU moves to 3-5 on the year while Winnipeg drops to 2-6.
The first set was a continuation of how the teams played on Friday. TRU took a big lead and was up by five going into the technical time out (16-11).
Olga Savenchuk (1st year, outside hitter, Donetsk, Ukaine) led the way with eight kills in 15 swings. Winnipeg was led by Ashleigh Laube (2nd year, left side, Winnipeg, MB) and Emma Parker (2nd year, left side, St. Adolphe, MB) with three kills each.
It was more of the same in the second set, TRU reached the technical time out again leading. But this time the margin was three (16-13).
The third set saw the Wesmen make it close thanks to four kills from Laube but they were no match for the WolfPack who saw Savenchuk notch six kills in 12 attempts and Kendra Finch (4th year, outside hitter, North Vancouver, BC) pick up seven kills on eight swings.
The TRU Bookstore/McDonalds "Leader of the Pack" player of the match was UBC transfer Gabrielle Podloski (3rd year, outside hitter, Grande Praire, AB) who had nine kills in 17 chances with no attack errors. The WolfPack continue their homestand next weekend hosting MacEwan. The Wesmen will meet up with Mount Royal. 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 Chad Grimm:
On match: "Tonight we were very good offensively as a group. Last night it was Olga with 23 kills and one error. Tonight it was Kendra with 16 kills and no errors on 20 swings. Gabby: nine kills on 17 swings and no errors. Our two left sides went through the whole match without making an attack error. That obviously is pretty stupendous. But it shows on the defensive side of the ball we weren't as tight as we should have been because offensively we were great."
GRIMM'S POST GAME VIDEO INTERVIEW: click here
TRU outside hitter Gabrielle Podloski (3rd year, outside, Grande Prairie, AB:
On the win: "I thought we did a really good job of playing consistently. We really minimized our errors and did a really good job of doing that."
PODLOSKI'S POST GAME VIDEO INTERVIEW: click here
Opposition head coach Diane Scott:
Comparing Saturday to Friday: "We were more game ready. We were certainly competing at a higher level and were following more of our game plan. We got more touches and the net and stayed more aggressive with was positive. We still make too many unforced errors. That hurts us, we have to stay aggressive Obviously they are a very good team across the board, they dug up a ton of balls. They touch everything. That is impressive on their side. That is what we aspire to be.
SCOTT'S POST GAME VIDEO INTERVIEW: click here