The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women's volleyball team is back into the win column.
The WolfPack impressed a large crowd at the Tournament Capital Centre on Friday night (Nov 13) by downing the visiting Brandon University Bobcats in straight sets (3-0). The scores on the Warner Rentals court were 25-16,25-11,25-19.
TRU moves to 4-5 on the year while Brandon falls to 3-4.
"We talked before the match that if you win the serve/receive you have a chance," said WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm. "I think Brandon struggled with that in the first two sets and our pressure was good. I thought we did a good job of changing our service depths and putting ourselves in good positions defensively. Our dig total was 63 which is rare in a three set match."
Leading the way in digs was Alyssa Wolf (5th year, libero, South Surrey, BC). She was named the "McDonalds/TRU Bookstore Leader of the Pack" player of the match with 22 digs including 10 alone in the first set.
"Alyssa has been good for us the whole year but having 22 digs in a three set match is pretty impressive," stated Grimm. "She was on and focused and cleaning up a lot of stuff when our system broke down."
Grimm says the key to the libero position is to be focused. "It is mentally tough position because you don't get any pluses. You can't make up for a mistake with a kill or a block or a serving run. Your pluses aren't points but they are positive things for the team. You have to be very mentally tough to survive that position successfully."
TRU was led offensively by Iuliia Pakhomenko (4th year, outside hitter, Donetsk, Ukraine). She had 18 kills in 33 swings with 13 digs, two service aces and one block assist.
"Iuliia is an all-star," said Brandon coach Lee Carter about the match. "She is one of the best players in the league. When she gets going on her serve and her offense you spend a lot of time thinking about her. Chad does a great job of preparing them and I thought they battled hard. We were too busy trying to figure out what was going on our side. I thought we did a better job in the third set. We started to hustle and get hustle points. Hope we can carry it through tomorrow and it's a better result."
Katie Woo (4th year, setter, Surrey,BC) had 38 assists and two service aces along with six digs.
Morgan Kolasa (3rd year, middle, Calgary, AB) had seven kills in 10 chances with five digs and a service ace.
Brandon was led by Breanne Sytnyk (3rd year, Shoal Lake, MB) with six kills in 16 chances with two service aces, two digs, a solo block and a block assist. Shanlee McLennan (5th year, left side, Winnipeg, MB) had five kills in 23 opportunities with a service ace and four digs. Hope Schnieder (4th year, setter, Brandon, MB) had 14 assists.
After losing their last three matches, the victory was a big one for TRU. " It is critical that we start stopping runs of losing matches. Obviously it was good to bounce back. Now it will be a big test tomorrow (Saturday). Brandon is going to come out and have a better serve/receive and be even tougher."
Carter agrees that for a visiting team, playing at the Tournament Capital Centre is difficult to adjust to. " It is a big open facility with lots of air movement. You don't get to see it until the game. You get a serve and pass but it is such an awesome events center that it's so full that you don't get the full effect until you are at the game. That is great. It is awesome there is so much sports going on."
The Tournament Capital Centre hosted an elementary school volleyball tournament, the BC high school swim championships and two playoff high school football games along with the TRU matches on Friday.
Saturday's match has a 5 pm start time.