The Thompson Rivers University will look to 'exercise' some ghosts as they meet up with the University of Alberta Golden Bears in the Canada West men's volleyball quarterfinals this weekend.
The WolfPack are facing one of the most decorated programs in Canadian University men's volleyball but they have enjoyed some success against them in the past.

This is the second time that the teams have met in Canada West playoff action.  They met in the 2013-14 quarterfinals where Alberta won 3-0 (25-17,26-24,25-17). That series was played at Trinity Western. The Golden Bears are up to fifth in the USPORTS weekly rankings. They were sixth last week.

Game one will be Friday night (Feb 22) at the Saville Centre in Edmonton  Games two and possibly three in the best of three series are set for Saturday and Sunday afternoons (Feb 23-24).

Game Information:

Date: Fri Feb 22/ Sat Feb 23/Sun Feb 24   Time: 6 pm/5 pm/3 pm  MDT
Location:  Saville Centre, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB              
TRU record: 11-11(6^th in league)              Last 5 matches: 2-3        on road     4-6
Alberta record: 17-5 (3^rd in league)          Last 5 matches:  5-0     at home:   9-3
 
Thoughts from WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly:

1. On Alberta:  "They are used to quite a bit of success over the last 10 years so I think their confidence will be quite high. We had a great second night in Alberta this year going five sets. But that being said, one of their left sides and one of their middles were out. They do have some depth and now they have a full roster.  It is going to be a challenge. We are going to have to be at the top of our game."
2. How do they match up against you? "They sometimes struggle with passing. We do sometimes as well. We have worked on our serving. We finished with the most aces in Canada West and aces per set. We are banking on going in there and serving tough. We need to control our nerves from the service line. That is our first line of defence.  We have been working hard on our block. They are a very physical team.  Once they get rolling offensively, they are hard to stop. We are working on slowing it down as much as possible to give ourselves a chance to get into the match."
3. Have the guys been 'overthinking' things the last few weeks once they solidified a playoff spot?  " We have struggled a little bit with the idea of reaching our goals and getting into the playoffs. As the semester started, we had a chance of being top  four. As that slipped away,  we had a chance to be five and wound up being tied for sixth place and winning the tie break. We let a couple of opportunities slip by. Hopefully we can not let that sink in. On the flip side, Alberta lost a game to Calgary, lost a game to Sask so, they had a few matches they want back as well. We are looking at a tough team. They had a much better regular season record than us. We are going to have to be tough to have a chance of winning on the road."

 
 
Players to Watch:

TRU:

Tim Dobbert (5^th year, outside hitter, Aichelberg, Germany):  led Canada West in kills (379 and second in kills per set (3.73). second on the team in digs with 122.
Anton Napolitano (3^rd year, setter, Victoria, AUS): third in Canada West in service aces per set (0.51).third on the team in digs with 116.
Kyle Behiels (4^th year, middle, Edmonton, AB):  fifth in Canada West in service aces per set (0.43). second on the team in service aces with 36 and second on the team in blocks with 57 (48 assists)
Sam Taylor Parks (4^th year, middle, Kelowna, BC):third in kills with `40, led Pack in blocks with 77 (70 assists) and third on the team in points pre set (2.7)
Landon Currie (2^nd year, libero, Vernon, BC): led team with 148 digs


ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS:

Taryq Sani (3^rd year, outside hitter, Ajax, ON):  third in Canada West in kills (317) and fourth in kills per set (3.73). third  on team in digs with 120 and third on team in blocks with 36 (30 assists).
Alex McMullin (3^rd year, left side, Brisbane, AUS): fourth in Canada West in hitting percent (.302), second on team in kills at 258 and second on the Bears in kills per set (3.4)
 Jacob Deinum (3^rd year, middle, Barrhead, AB): second on the team in service aces with 22 and had most blocks on the team with 76 (61 assists).
Jackson Kennedy (2^nd year, left side, Edmonton, AB): third on the Bears in kills with 196. Third on the team in service aces (20) second  on team in digs (127) and second  on team in total blocks with 57 (40 assists).
 
If you can't make the game/match: watch online (pay per view) at www.canadawesttv.ca