Never has the TRU WolfPack women's volleyball team played host to a Canada West playoff series.
The 2019-2020 squad is positioned well to change that, sitting third in conference standings with a record of 10-4 and eyeing the top-four finish required to host a quarter-final series in February.
TRU and the basement-dwelling Manitoba Bisons will clash this weekend in a pair of matches the Pack can ill-afford to lose if they want to make program history by duelling in the Den in the playoffs,.
The tilts against the Bisons are slated for 6:45 p.m. on Friday and
5 p.m. on Saturday at the Tournament Capital Centre.
"We need to be a little bit more proactive," WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm said. "We've waited a little bit too much to see what the other team is going to do and then reacted.
"We can dictate a lot of matches, so we have to get used to being in that position of, hey, we can do what we can do and whatever the other team does doesn't matter."
An alarming defeat last weekend — a straight-sets loss on Friday to the hometown Winnipeg Wesmen (6-8) — should serve to remind the WolfPack of one simple truth: The rest of the league does not give one single rip about their projected program-best campaign.
"It was a good wake-up call in a way," WolfPack outside hitter Avery Pottle said. "We kind of assumed we could beat a lot of the teams below us.
"To get a loss like that on the road and to come back the second night and reset our focus was good for us."
The WolfPack notched a five-set victory over the Wesmen on Saturday, but the win was not enough to keep them among the top 10 ranked women's university volleyball teams in the country.
TRU, which was eighth in the final U Sports top 10 of 2019, was absent from the list released on Tuesday.
Calgary (4-10) handed Manitoba two defeats last weekend in Winnipeg, 3-1 triumphs that suggest the WolfPack are favoured to take care of the Bisons.
"We've talked a lot about Manitoba," Pottle said. "They do have a lot of talented players. Going into the season, no one would have predicted the results they have right now.
"We're not taking that for granted. They are essential games to win."
They may be essential to securing home playoff dates.
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