The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's volleyball team have pulled off one of their biggest upsets in their history.
The Pack went into Alberta and swept the always tough Golden Bears in two straight matches in the 2019 Canada West quarterfinals.

After winning in four on Friday (Feb 23), the Pack needed five to eliminate Alberta on Saturday (Feb 23).

The scores were 25-19, 23-25,14-25,25-16,15-8.  This was the second time that the WolfPack and Golden Bears had met in the post season in TRU's history.  Alberta beat them in the Canada West semi finals (a one game affair) in 2013-14. 

The WolfPack will now advance to the Canada West semi finals next week. They will meet up with the Trinity Western University Spartans in Langley, BC.  The Spartans eliminated the UBC Thunderbirds in three games. 
 SYNOPSIS

The WolfPack were led by Tim Dobbert (5^th year, outside hitter, Aichelberg, Germany).  In the early stages of this match, Dobbert was almost single handedly generating the TRU offense. He wound up with 23 kills.

After winning the first set, the WolfPack dropped the next two sets.  In the third,  head coach Pat Hennelly tried to shuffle the deck by replacing Dobbert, setter Anton Napolitano (4^th year, Victoria, AUS) and middle Sam Taylor Parks (4^th year, Kelowna, BC).    He brought in rookies Samuel Elgert (Athabaska, AB), Ryan Adams (Sherwood Park, AB)  and outside hitter/middle Ryan Hampe (Prince George, BC).  

In the fourth and fifth sets, TRU's offense had an attack percent of .478 and .583.  The fifth set saw Thompson Rivers go on a 4-0 run to lead 12-7.  They also scored the last three points of the set to secure the victory.

The Pack out dug the Golden Bears 39-30. Alberta had 19 service errors compared to TRU's 13.

 KEY STATS:

SCORES:
TRU:             25   23   14    25   15   ---3                          
ALBERTA:    19   25    25   16     8   ---2
 
TRU:
Tim Dobbert : 23 kills in 42 chances, 6 digs, 1 solo block, 4 block assists
Anton Napolitano: 7 kills in 8 chances, 35 assists, 3 service aces, 3 digs, 2 block assists
Tim Edge: 6 kills in 17 opportunities, 5 digs, 4 assists
Kyle Behiels: 6 kills in 10 swings, 4 service aces, 4 digs, 1 block assist
Sam Taylor Parks: 4 kills in 18 attempts, 4 digs, 1 solo block, 5 block assists
Charlie Bringloe: 4 kills in 12 opportunities, 3 digs
 
ALBERTA :

Taryq Sani:  18 kills in 48 chances, 5 digs, 1 solo block, 1 block assist
Alex McMullin: 17 kills in 34 opportunities, 5 digs, 2 block assists
Jacob Dienum: 7 kills in 10 swings, 1 service ace, 1 dig, 2 block assists
Max Elgert: 48 assists, 1 service ace, 12 digs


THEY SAID IT (post match quotes):

TRU head coach Pat Hennelly:

On Match: "It was a very good match. We played great. Anton was solid and Tim Dobbert put together one of the best weekends in WolfPack playoff history. Kyle Behiels was the difference in the fourth and fifth sets from the service line. I put in the wrong line up in the third set and that contributed to our big loss. I asked the guys to'bail out' the coach in the fourth and fifth sets and they did. This was one of the biggest weekends in our playoff history. We have won three previous on the road and this one ranks up there for sure. Proud of the way the guys handled this adversity."


TRU Outside Hitter Tim Dobbert:

On winning series:  "It has been amazing especially playing in this gym. It is tough to win. Alberta has a great team. It is tough to beat them. We had a good match up. It was an amazing game."
What was said to the team after dropping the second and third sets to Alberta?  " Second and third we seemed to be a little rattled. We gave it away in the second. In the third, our rotation mixed up.  We just knew that we had to be positive. Even for me, I realized that getting angry doesn't help."
On veteran laden team growing:  " Experience and the fact it could be our last game for our seniors. I am glad we get to play another weekend."
 
 
UP NEXT:
The WolfPack advance to the Canada West semi finals next week against the Trinity Western University Spartans at the Langley Events Centre.  Match one is set for 8:45 pm on Thursday, February 28^th.  Match two will be played at 9 pm on Friday, March 1^st. If a third and deciding match is needed, it will be played on Saturday, March 2^nd at a TBD. The other semi final has the Brandon University Bobcats hosting the Mount Royal University Cougars. The matches can we viewed on a pay per view basis on www.canadawesttv.com.