With a playoff spot still hanging in the balance, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women's volleyball team will close out their 2018-19 Canada West regular season this weekend.
The Pack will take Highway 97 down to Kelowna, BC to face their closest geographical rival: the University of British Columbia Okanagan Heat.  The teams play a pair of matches Friday and Saturday (Feb 15-16).
The Pack, MacEwan and Manitoba are tied for sixth place going into the final weekend.  In order to guarantee a playoff spot, Thompson Rivers will need to sweep UBCO.   The fortunes of the Mount Royal Cougars also play a factor. TRU, MacEwan, and Manitoba are all at .500 (11-11).  Mount Royal enters the weekend at 10-12.
The Heat are out of the post season—which is a rarity for the program under 18 year head coach Steve Manuel. 
 
 DETAILS:

Date: Fri Feb 15/ Sat Feb 16    Time: 6 pm/5 pm PDT
Location: "The Furnace", UBCO, Kelowna, BC           
TRU Record: 11-11    Last 5 outings: 3-2    on the road this year 2-6
UBCO Record: 2-20   Last 5 outings:  0-5 at home this year  2-8


Important Game Notes:

These are the final contests between UBCO and Thompson Rivers in the "President's Cup" series.  TRU won both basketball tilts, the Pack have a win and a tie in women's soccer while the cross country battle was won by UBCO.  It will be presented after Saturday's match.  TRU is the defending 'women's champion. 
Both matches this weekend can be seen on Canada West TV on a pay-per-view basis.


Thoughts from WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm:

1.       What are your thoughts going into the final weekend of the regular season? It always seems there are points in the season that are long and it becomes a grind and then all of a sudden you are at the end.  It has been a good crew to work with this year and I am proud of the strides we have made as a group to this point.

 

2.       How much 'scoreboard watching' will you do or basically are your playoff fortunes resting in your own hands? I'm not much of a scoreboard watcher per se.  It is unavoidable to a certain extent to hear about other results and it is good to know where you stand but I will be too busy trying to prepare our group to play in Kelowna to worry about what other teams might be doing.

 

3.       It appears that it has been a tough year for UBCO…did you anticipate this rebuild? I think it has been maybe a tougher year than anticipated.  They lost some core pieces from the team that has qualified for nationals the past several years and also got bit by the injury bug but I know with Steve at the helm they will bounce back quickly and I'm sure be in the mix again next season.

 

4.       How do you match up with them? They are more physical than us and can provide some power from the wings but we might have the edge on the defensive side so it will be two contrasting styles to a certain extent. We actually haven't played them this year so we will have to wait to see how the match up plays out.

 

5.       How much prep will this week be on 'the UBCO match up" rather than any playoff scenerios? Our only prep this week will definitely be for UBCO and not looking past them and trying to put our best performances on the court this Friday and Saturday.

 

6.       When it comes to this time of the year, is practice just a refining of skills already learned ?For me, at this point of year we are just trying to stay healthy, come out with some level of energy and allow ourselves to show the skills we have developed over the past 6 months or so.  We are looking at small details to hopefully help us in some areas but for the most part the practice has been done and we just need to be in a place where we can play on the weekend.

 

7.       Could you please comment on the play of the liberos this year.  They don't seem to get the attention of the 'offensive threats'.  I think sometimes libero is a thankless position as they don't get any plus points but have a huge roll in allowing the rest of the team be successful offensively so we have two girls that have done a good job in allowing us to do that.  I think our group knows how important they are even if they don't get the media attention that others do.

 
 
 
Players to Watch:

TRU:

Olga Savenchuk (1^st year, outside hitter, Donetsk, Ukraine):  is fourth in the Canada west in both kills per set (3.68) and kills (313).  She is second on the team with 57 blocks (48 assisted) and digs (242).  She had a team high points per set total (4.5).
Kendra Finch (4^th year, outside hitter, North Vancouver, BC):  second on the team in kills 237 and leads the team with 268 digs.  She is second on the team in points per set (3.5) and leads in service aces (28).
Avery Pottle (3^rd year, middle, Uxbridge, Ontario):  leads the team in blocks  (70-56 assisted), third on the team with 119 kills.
Hali Drezet (3^rd year, libero, Prince George, BC): third on the team in digs (206).


UBCO Heat :

Ann Richards (5^th year, outside hitter, Assinboine, SK): fourth in the Canada West in service aces per set (0.51). she leads the team in kills (215) and points per set (3.6).
Aiden Lea (4^th year, middle, Kelowna, BC):  is second on the team in kills (190) and points per set (3.4) and second in service aces with 31.
Sydney Grills (1^st year, outside hitter, Vancouver, BC): third on the team in points per set (2.8) and tied for second in kills (190)
Sadie Taylor Parks (2^nd year, middle, Kelowna, BC): the younger sister of WolfPack men's player Sam has 43 total blocks (6 solo and 37 assists).  She has 17 service aces

Home game/match highlights will be available by logging onto www.gowolfpack.tru.ca as will away match results.