The Thompson Rivers Univrersity WolfPack are into the win column for the first time in the 2019-20 Canada West mens volleyball season.

The WolfPack dumped the University of Alberta Golden Bears 3-1 on Friday night (Nov 8) at the Tournament Capital Centre.  The scores were 17-25,25-23,25-22,25-22.
The Pack move to 1-4 on the season while Alberta falls to 3-2.

Thompson Rivers was led by Nimo Benne (1^st year, outside hitter, Castricum, Netherlands) with 14 kills in 29 swings with four digs a solo block and a block assist.  Anton Napolitano (4^th year, setter, Victoria, AUS) had 35 assists, one service ace, eight digs, a solo block and four block assists.

Alberta's main threat was Jordan Canham (2^nd year, outside hitter, Newington,ON )who had 15 kills in 37 attempts with two service aces, four digs and four block assists.  Max Elgert (4^th year, setter, Athabaska, AB) had 35 assists, nine digs, a solo block and three block assists.

The match saw the return of two WolfPack veterans: Kyle Behiels (5^th year, middle, Edmonton, AB) and Josh Mullaney (4^th year, outside, Calgary, AB) from injury.

 SYNOPSIS

The Golden Bears took the first set thanks in part to a major serving run by Jackson Kennedy (3^rd year, outside, Edmonton, AB).  He stepped into serve and Alberta went onto an 8-0 run to lead 11-5.  And won the set 25-17. Middle George Hobern (4^th year, middle, Sherwood Park, AB) had four kills for the Bears in that opening set while Nimo Benne had four for the WolfPack.

The WolfPack got off to a good start in the second set. Charlie Bringloe (5^th year, outside hitter, Waterloo,ON) helped spur on a mini run with a couple of service aces to give TRU a 13-8 advantage. The Golden Bears battled back and went into the tech time out at 16-15.  Mullaney had three kills for the Pack in the second stanza which was won 25-23. Canham had seven kills in a losing cause for Alberta in that set.

Both teams traded points for most of the third set until late when the WolfPack opened a two point advantage thanks in part to a kill from Benne.  Beheils was set perfectly by Napolitano  for a kill which saw space between two Alberta front line players.

The fourth set saw the WolfPack reach the 24 point mark first but the gutsy Golden Bears staved off set and match point six times before succumbing to Thompson Rivers.
 
 
 
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS: 
https://youtu.be/n7SidAjh4B4
 
WHAT THEY SAID::

TRU head coach Pat Hennelly
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1193063343411515397
 
Alberta head coach Brock Daviduk (1^st year):

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1193062886119075841
 
WolfPack outside hitter Joshua Mullaney (4^th year, Calgary, AB):

https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1193062720519622656
 
UP NEXT:

The two teams will close out their weekend series on Saturday (Nov 9) with a 6:45 pm PDT match up at the Tournament Capital Centre. 
Canada West's only husband/wife play by play duo of James Matthews and Katie Woo Matthews will have the call starting at 6:35 PM.  You can access it 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.