Bragging rights are on the line—among other things for the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's volleyball team this weekend.
The WolfPack are hosting the University of BC Okanagan Heat in a pair of Canada West matches Friday and Saturday (Jan 24-25) at the Tournament Capital Centre.
The Kamloops-Kelowna rivalry: University style has been a good rivalry this season in other sports and men's volleyball should be no different as the President's Cup will be decided this weekend. The President's Cup is the trophy awarded to the school who has bested the other in head to head matchups in men's and women's soccer, basketball, cross country and volleyball.
Heading into this weekend, Thompson Rivers has two wins (basketball and soccer) three losses (basketball and two cross country) and one tie (soccer)has found itself in a familiar situation. One that they aren't fond of being in.
The WolfPack enter this weekend 3-13 and in 10
th spot in the Canada West. The Heat sit in the bottom looking for their first victory in 14 starts. In fact, the last time UBCO won a match in Canada West came against the WolfPack. It was on the final weekend of last season when they won in five sets.
UBCO has three players with ties to Kamloops. Former Pack setters Denham O' Reilly (5
th year, Langley, BC) and Jakob Hamilton (3
rd year, Calgary, AB) are on the Heat along with Sa-Hali grad and fellow setter Owen Cotito.
Friday's contest will be the WolfPack's "You Can Play" night. The team will wear special shirts in the warm up and there will be an informational table and a presentation for the Kamloops Pride Organization during the night.
Saturday's matches will be the TRU "Bell Let's Talk about mental health" night. Aside from a special informational table and booth set up where fans can write messages of positive mental health and post them on line (where Bell will donate to mental health organizations across the country), fans doing that will also get a blue " Bell lets talk about mental health" toque.
They will be shown on a pay-per view basis on Canada West TV presented by Co-op. You can access them by accessing:
https://cw.yaretv.com/.
James Matthews and former WolfPack women's volleyball setter Katie Mathews (Woo): the only husband/wife webcasting crew in the Canada West will have the call of Friday's match. TRU Sports Information Officer
Larry Read will handle the call on Saturday. CFJC TV's Dylana Milobar is the in game host both matches.
Results will be available on the WolfPack social media platforms and their website
www.goWolfPack.ca.
Past History:
Last season at UBCO, the Heat won the first match (Feb 15, 2019) in five sets. The scores wre 25-22,20-25,25-23,12-25, 15-10. That match saw
Tim Dobbert lead the TRU offensive with 24 kills.
Charlie Bringloe (5
th year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON) had 14,
Sam Taylor Parks (5
th year, middle, Kelowna, BC) added nine with Anton Naplitano (4
th year, setter, Victoria, AUS) notching 42 assists and 10 digs. UBCO was led by Cam Vanderveen (2
nd year, outside hitter, Chilliwack, BC) with 12 kills in 32 swings. Matt Aubry (4
th year, outside hitter, Brisbane, AUS) had 10 kills in 45 chances and former WolfPack setter Denham O'Reilly having 22 assists and 12 digs.
The following night (Feb 16, 2019), the WolfPack took the match in three straight sets. The scores were 25-22,25-22,25-12. Bringloe had 14 kills in 27 chances, Dobbert had eight kills in 22 opportunities. Taylor Parks was nine for 16 while Napolitano had 32 assists.
Landon Currie (3
rd year, libero, Vernon, BC) had 13 digs.
The last time the teams played a regular season match at the Tournament Capital Centre was February 10, 2018. Thompson Rivers won 3-1 (19=25,25-19,25-22,25-20). Bringloe had 16 kills in 32 swings with three service aces. Napolitano had 35 assists and nine digs. Josh Mullaney chipped in with 12 kills in 29 opportunities and six digs. Lars Bornemann was the top producer for UBCO with 12 kills in 29 chances.
Players to Watch:
UBCO:
Cam Vanderveen: leads the Heat in kills (110) and service aces (8). He is second on the team in digs with 75.)
Denham O'Reilly: The former WolfPack setter is second in Canada West with 2.22 digs per set. He has a team leading 100 digs and is third on the Heat in kills with 63. He also is tied for second place on his team with 24 total blocks.
Jakob Hamilton: The ex TRU setter has played in 40 sets this year and has 221 assists.
Max Heppel (3
rd year, outside hitter, Langley, BC): is second on the Heat with 107 kills and has 19 total blocks which is fourth on the team
Thompson Rivers:
Landon Currie : is second in the Canada West in digs (129) and is third in digs per set (1.98)leads Canada West in digs (102) and is third in digs per set (2.08).
Anton Napolitano : leads the team in assists (394), is second in digs (105) and is third on the team in total blocks (29)
Sam Taylor Parks is fourth in Canada West in blocks per set (1.00). He leads the team in total blocks (65), is second on the team in kills (115) and third on the team in service aces (13).
Nimo Benne (1
st year, outside hitter, Castricum, Netherlands): is third on the team in kills (110) and in digs (72).
COMMENTS OF WOLFPACK OUTSIDE HITTER CHARLIE BRINGLOE (5TH YEAR, WATERLOO, ON):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1220145465947066368
COMMENTS OF WOLFPACK MIDDLE SAM TAYLOR PARKS (5TH YEAR, KELOWNA, BC):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1220146846900736000
