The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's volleyball team made it close and won a set but still wound up on the short end of a 3-1 decision to the Trinity Western University Spartans as they opened their best of three Canada West semi final on Thursday night (Feb 28).
Playing at the Langley Events Centre, the Pack fell  25-20,25-22,22-25.25-14.  It was the nationally number two ranked Spartans 24 th straight match victory over the WolfPack.  In the sets they lost, TRU had brief leads or were tied with the more veteran Trinity Western squad.
Game two of the best of three series goes Friday (Mar 1) at 9 PM .


SYNOPSIS

The WolfPack and Spartans played some 'late night' volleyball. With the BC high school basketball championships and the Canada West women's volleyball semi final going on at the same facility, the teams didn't take to the court until almost 9:30 PM.
The Pack were led by  Charlie Bringloe (4^th year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON) with 11 kills.  Tim Dobbert (5^th year, outside hitter, Aichelberg, Germany) had eight kills while Tim Edge (5^th year, outside hitter, Langley, BC) had seven.  He was named as the TRU player of the match.
The Spartans were led by their player of the match: Brody Hofer and Eric Loeppky with 11 kills a piece.
Thompson Rivers had 23 service aces to Trinity's 20.
The third set saw TRU's lead reach six.
In the fourth and final set, Trinity Western went on a 12-3 run to close it out after the WolfPack cut the deficit to one (11-10). 

KEY STATS:

SCORES:

TRINITY WESTERN:   25   25   22   25   ---3
TRU                             20   22   25   14   ---1
                   
TRU
Charlie Bringloe:11 kills in 21 swings, 7 digs, 1 block assist, 1 assist
Tim Dobbert: 8 kills in 30 opportunities, 2 digs, 1 block assist
Tim Edge: 7 kills in 16 chances, 4 digs, 1 service ace, 1 block assist
Kyle Behiels: 5 kills in 10 opportunities, 1 service ace, 1 block assist
Anton Napolitano:30 assists, 3 service aces, 2 digs, 3 block assist
 
TRINITY WESTERN :
Brody Hofer: 11 kills in 20 swings, 6 digs, 1 service ace, 2 block assists
Eric Loeppky: 11 kills in 26 chances, 4 service aces, 2 digs, 1 solo block, 2 block assists
Jacob Kern 6 kills in 19 attempts, 3 service aces, 2 digs, 1 block assist
Jackson Howe: 6 kills in 8 opportunities, 4 block assists, 2 digs
Derek Epp: 29 assists, 3 service aces, 10 digs, 1 block assist
 
THEY SAID IT (post match quotes):

TRU Head Coach Pat Hennelly:

On Match: " Overall not a bad first night.  Lots of pressure on that side, A little nervousness from our service line. It showed in our errors (24 in four sets). We need to tighten that up. We had some nerves but overall, the guys came out and played well. Tim Edge had a great night. He was player of the match.Nice to see in his fifth year. He is out here in his hometown. They played very very good volleyball especially Brody Hofer. As a first year guy to come out the way he did was great. I think our guys did a good job of adjusting in the middle of a set, but Trinity came out and changed gears. That is what good teams do. Pleased with the overall performance. We need to tighten things up on our side of the court and realize we are playing a tough team that has multiple weapons. We are looking for guys to stabilize a little bit. It was quite  a long day for us. We will get a good rest tomorrow. Like what I see and hope we can extend the series."
 
OF NOTE:

The other semi final began Thursday (Feb 28) night in Brandon where the number one ranked Bobcats lost in three straight to the Mount Royal University Cougars.  The scores were 27-25,25-22,25-20.   Tyler Schmidt led the way for Mount Royal with 18 kills.  Trent Mounter added 13 while Tanner Greves had 34 assists.    Robin Baghdady had nine kills to lead Brandon.  Game two is Friday night.
Earlier at the Langley Events Centre, the Trinity Western Spartans women's team beat Alberta Pandas 3-1 in the opening of their best of three Canada West women's volleyball semi finals.
 
UP NEXT:

The Spartans and WolfPack play game two of their series on Friday (Mar 1).  Game time is expected to be 9 pm PDT. If a third match is needed it would be played Saturday (Mar 2) at 8:30 pm PDT. All of the above matches can we viewed on a pay per view basis on www.canadawesttv.com.