By Lary Read

Thompson Rivers University Sports Information Officer

The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women's volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit for a second straight night as they beat the visiting Mount Royal University Cougars 3-2 in Canada West action at the Tournament Capital Centre.

The scores were 27-25,22-25,15-25,25-23,15-9.  TRU moved to the .500 mark at 8-8 while the Cougars fell to 7-9.

Olga Savencuk was again the kills leader for Thompson Riers with 24.  Kendra Finch (4^th year, outside hitter, North Vancouver, BC) added 14 kills while Avery Pottle (3^rd year, middle, Uxbridge, ON) had 12 kills.

Mount Royal was led by Cassidy Kitchen (3^rd year, outside hitter, Terrace, BC) with 17 kills.

The match saw Nicky Zalasky of Mount  (5^th year, middle, Bragg Creek, AB) tie the Canada West single season record for block assists with five.

 SYNOPSIS

The WolfPack got off to a quick 3-0 lead but it didn't take long for the Cougars to respond scored six straight points prompting TRU head coach Chad Grimm to call a time out.  That didn't derail Mount Royal as they scored the next point before TRU' got back on the board down 7-4.  The Cougars did get to the technical time out up three (16-13). The teams gritted it out the rest of the set with the WolfPack finally winning it 27-25.  Olga Savenchuk (1^st year, outside hitter, Dontesk, Ukraine) leading the way for TRU with seven kills in 14 chances while Kitchen had 5 kills in 18 opportunities.

The second set was like the first but the Cougars held a big lead until TRU-thanks to two straight service aces from Anastasiia Muzyka (2^nd year, setter, Poltawa, Ukraine) cut the deficit to 20-14 Cougars. TRU clawed to within a point (22-21) but Mount Royal won the set 25-22.

The third set saw Carly Davies of the Cougars (3^rd year, right side, Terrace, BC) notch six kills en route to the ten point victory. Chantal Park had a big serving run to pull the Cougars even after being down early to Thompson Rivers 7-4.  She had three straight service aces.

The fourth set was another close one which saw the WolfPack prevail. The turning point appeared to be when the WolfPack brought in Lizzy Reimer (1^st year, middle, Edmonton, AB) at middle.  She came up some inspired play which helped the teams go to a fifth set.

In that fifth set, Savenchuk led the way with key three points.  The Cougars did cut the margin to 14-7 with two straight points before the match ended on a Cougar service error.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: 

click here

THEY SAID IT (post match quotes):

TRU head coach Chad Grimm:

"Both matches were carbon copies. I thought it would be a little smoother on both sides tonight. I thought we started out decent and smooth. But again, both teams struggled to pass the ball. We were out of system a lot. Early we did fine. In the middle of the match they managed the ball a whole lot better than us. We made way too many errors. We toned that down a little bit. Our serve receive got a little better. I think in the fourth until the end of the match we stabilized a bit."

COACHES POST GAME VIDEO INTERVIEW:  click here

Mount Royal Coach Sandra Lamb  (21 st season):

On match:

"It was the same story. We are inconsistent and don't execute. We were mentally weak tonight. They kept battling and they brought some energy and it helped them to victory.."

COACHES POST GAME VIDEO INTERVIEW:  click here

UP NEXT:

Both these squads are on the road next weekend (Jan 18-19). The Cougars will head up  Highway Two to Edmonton to face the MacEwan Griffins for a pair of matches.  The WolfPack travel down the Coquihalla for a pair of tilts against the Trinity Western University Spartans. Both those matches will be played at the Langley Events Centre.  All these matches will be webcast on www.Canadawesttv.

OF NOTE:   The "TRU Bookstore/McDonalds Leader of the Pack Player of the Match" was Avery Pottle .   There were three players dressed in this game from the small BC community of Terrace:  Carly Davies and Cassidy Kitchen of Mount Royal and Macey Hogg of the WolfPack.