It was arguably the biggest victories in the history of the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's volleyball program. The WolfPack upended the University of Alberta Golden Bears in the first round of the 2018-19 Canada West playoffs.
The Pack are hoping that that 'good karma' will continue this weekend as the two squads meet for the first time since that epic upset. This time, the battle will take place in Kamloops at the Tournament Capital Centre on November 8-9
th (Friday and Saturday).
A number of the key characters from that series are gone. This includes long time Golden Bears head coach Terry Danyluk and WolfPack outside hitter
Tim Dobbert. Danyluk retired while Dobbert graduated TRU with a Masters in Business.
The WolfPack enter play coming off a bye week and winless in their first four matches after dropping back to back weekends to defending Canada West champion Brandon and then Calgary.
The Bears have won their last three matches and are tied for second spot with five other schools with six points.
Alberta's new bench boss is former assistant and player Brock Davidiuk. They are led by 2
nd year outside hitter Jordan Canham (Newington,ON). The former junior national team player leads the Canada West in kills per set (3.93), is fifth in kills (59) and fifth in hitting percent (.355).
Their setter is Max Elgert (4
th year, Athabaska, AB) who is second in the Canada West in assists per set (9.93). He is the older brother of second year WolfPack setter Samuel. It will be the third time the two have faced off against each other. The previous two were last year in the regular season and playoffs. Max Elgert already has 149 assists through four matches. Jackson Kennedy (3
rd year, outside hitter, Edmonton, AB) is second on Albewrta with 38 kills and leads the team in digs with 15.
Statistically, the WolfPack are led by
Sam Taylor Parks (5
th year, middle, Kelowna, BC). He is fifth in Canada West in blocks per set (1.06). He is the team leader in blocks with 17 (11 of them being assists).
Setter
Anton Napolitano (4
th year, Victoria, AUS) is fourth in service aces per set (0.56) and third in assists per set (9).
Charlie Bringloe (5
th year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON) leads Thompson Rivers in kills (57). Napolitano and
Landon Currie (3
rd year, libero, Vernon, BC) lead the Pack with 36 digs.
The matches are set for 5 pm PDT on Friday (Nov 8) and 6:45 pm PDT on Saturday (Nov 9) and can be accessed on a pay-per-view basis on Canada West TV presented by Co-op by accessing:
https://cw.yaretv.com/.
Results will be available on the WolfPack social media platforms and their website
www.goWolfPack.ca.
COMMENTS OF WOLFPACK HEAD COACH PAT HENNELLY:
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1192316666924765189
COMMENTS OF WOLFPACK LIBERO/DEFENSIVE SPECIALIST DYLAN VAN SPANKAREN (1st year, Calgary, AB):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1192316620254769153
