: The 2019-20 Canada West playoff hopes of the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's volleyball team took a major set back on Friday (Jan 10).
Playing for the first time at home this calendar year, and facing a 'must win' scenario, the Pack lost 3-1 to the visiting University of Manitoba Bisons. The scores at the Tournament Capital Centre were 25-21,25-21,27-29,28-26. The Bisons move to 7-6 on the season while the WolfPack drop to 2-11.
Canada West kills per set leader Kevin Negus (5
th year, right side, Sioux Lookout, ON) led the way for Manitoba offensively. He had 15 kills in 58 swings with four service aces (three in the first set) and five digs.
Dariian Koskie ( 1
st year, middle, Winnipeg, MB) had eight kills in 14 chances for Manitoba while Kyle Martens (3
rd year, libero, Steinbach, MB) had 18 assists with 10 digs. Fellow libero Jack Mandryk (3
rd year, Lockport, MB) contributed 17 assists and 10 assists.
Thompson Rivers was led by
Nimo Benne (1
st year, outside hitter, Castricum, Netherlands) had 13 kills in 40 chances with 19 digs and a block assist.
Sam Taylor Parks (5
th year, middle, Kelowna, BC) had 11 kills in 20 swings with three service aces.
Samuel Elgert (2
nd year, setter, Athabasca, AB) had 25 assists and three digs while
Anton Napolitano (4
th year, setter, Victoria, AUS) had 13 kills and three digs.
SYNOPSIS
Both teams looked choppy to begin this match. The Bisons got off to a 3-2 lead before Thompson Rives went on a 5-0 run to take a 6-4 lead. Negus stepped to the line and took the Bisons on a 5-0 run of their own to lead 10-6 prompting the WolfPack to take a time out. Negus had three service aces during that run. The time out strategy paid off as Thompson Rivers took the next three points to cut the deficit to 10-9 which caused Manitoba to use one of their time outs. Manitoba got to the tech time out first ahead 16-10. The WolfPack came out strong after the tech break rolling to five straight to cut the deficit to one (16-15). The first set saw the Canada West home debut of WolfPack rookie Kobby Nyakro (1
st year, Calgary, AB) he came on late in the set, which was won by the Bisons on a solo block 25-21. Thompson Rivers outhit the Bisons in the first set 42-32 but had 14 errors compared to six for Manitoba. Jon Laube (3
rd year, left side, Winnipeg, MB) led the Manitoba offense with three kills while Taylor Parks had two kills in six swings for TRU. Manitoba had six team blocks to TRU's four.
The Bisons got off to a big lead in set two and were up 5-1 before the Pack did some roster juggling including switching starting setter Napolitano in favor of Elgert . Thompson Rivers came within two (7-5) before the Bisons went on a bit of a run and were up 12-7 before TRU took a time out. Manitoba was ahead 16-11 at the tech time out. They switched their liberos in the second set with Mathieu Lavoie (2
nd year, Winnipeg, MB) taking over from starter Kyle Martens (3
rd year, Steinbach, MB). TRU cut the Bison's lead to two (17-15) coming out of the break. The Bisons went onto win the second set 25-21 to go up 2-0. Negas had six kills in that second frame. Benne had four kllls for TRU while
Charlie Bringloe (5
th year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON) had three.
The teams swapped points to begin the third set with the teams tying six times before TRU went up by two (8-6). TRU went up by three 11-8 as rookie
Brody Kopec (outside hitter, Red Deer, AB) notched a kill. Manitoba went on a run and tied things at 13 and thanks to a service ace, took their third tech time out (16-15). TRU head coach
Pat Hennelly re inserted his veteran lineup after the break. That translated to an 18-17 advantage forcing Manitoba to call a time out. It didn't work as the Pack captured the next four points to lead 21-17. A Bisons time out worked wonders for them. They tied things up. The set went to extra points with the Pack winning the set 29-27 as the Bisons are called for 'two touches'.
The fourth set saw the teams exchanged points with the Pack going up by two 13-11 as Hennelly again shuffled the deck personnel wise to spur on his team and they led for the first time at the tech time out in the match (16-13). Among those seeing the floor was middle
Corbin Ockerman (1
st year, Elk Point, AB). Manitoba went on a run and tied at 17. Tied at 24, Negus unleashed a laser for his 14th scoring point of the match as it found the floor between the front and back rows. The Bisons won the set and the match on a shot that Benne got a piece of as he lost his footing out of the back.
Before the game, the WolfPack and head coach
Pat Hennelly honored Bisons bench boss Garth Pischke who is retiring after 38 years at the helm.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
https://youtu.be/9A2tR6jiSgA
WHAT THE COACHES SAID:
TRU head coach Pat Hennelly (14th year):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1215874888046526466
WolfPack libero Landon Currie (3rd year, libero, Vernon, BC):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1215874795323084801
Manitoba coach Garth Pischke (38 th season)
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1215874860624203777
UP NEXT:
The two teams will go at it again Saturday (Jan 11) at the Tournament Capital Centre. Match time will be 6:45 PM. The match can been seen on a pay per view basis on Canada West TV presented by Co-op by accessing:
https://cw.yaretv.com/. James Matthews and his wife, former WolfPack women's volleyball setter Katie Woo will provide the play by play and commentary again. The Matthews are the only 'husband-wife" webcast team in Canada West. CFJC TV reporter Dylana Milobar will be the in game host.
Results will be available on the WolfPack social media platforms and their website
www.goWolfPack.ca.
Next weekend (Jan 17-18), the WolfPack will be in Calgary meeting up with the Mount Royal Cougars while the Bisons will be at home entertaining the UBC Thunderbirds.
