It wasn't a very Happy Valentine's Day for the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women's volleyball team. The WolfPack were beaten on home court by the top team in the Canada West-the Trinity Western Spartans.
The Spartans went to 21-2 on the year with a straight set win over the WolfPack at the Tournament Capital Centre. The scores were 25-16,25-16,25-19.
The result means the WolfPack not only fall to 16-7 but they will also finish out of the top four spots and will begin the Canada West playoffs next week on the road.
Trinity Western was led by Hilary Howe (4
th year, outside hitter, Calgary, AB) and Savannah Purdy (2
nd year, outside hitter, Victoria, BC) . Both had 11 kills. Howe had 11 kills in 23 chances while Purdy had 26 opportunities. Dora Komlodi (3
rd year, setter, Calgary, AB) had 27 assists and five digs.
For The WolfPack, they were led by
Kendra Finch (5
th year, outside hitter, North Vancouver, BC) with eight kills in 25 swings with six digs.
Olga Savenchuk (2
nd year, outside hitter, Donetsk, Ukraine) had seven kills in 19 chances.
Friday's match was the WolfPack's annual # I Believe You night which brings awareness to survivors of sexual abuse. The WolfPack wore special t-shirts in warm up and for the national anthem. There were also a number of informational booths set up around the Tournament Capital Centre for the match .Check out the WolfPack's Public Service Announcement:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-pfA7rMXCU
SYNOPSIS:
The Spartans took the first set getting the tech time out leading 16-9. Howe and Ansah Odooom each had four kills for Trinity Western. Howe had nine swings in the set while Odoom had six. Mikaelyn Sych (5
th year,middle, Airdrie, AB) had three kills in six opportunities. For the WolfPack, they were led by their lone fifth year player: Finch had three kills in seven opportunities. The Pack out blocked the Spartans 3-0 in that set.
In the second set, the Spartans jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and were up by as many as five (11-6) when the WolfPack called a time out. That seemed to work the Pack got the next point but was in vain as they then committed a service error to make it 12-7. The Spartans were up 16-11 at the time out. Purdy had five kills for the Spartans in the set in 10 attempts. Komlodi had 11 assists for Trinity. Finch had three kills in the set for the Pack. The Spartans had four team blocks in that second set while the Pack had none.
In the third set, the teams exchanged points with the teams tied at 10 before the Spartans went on a 3-0 run. The WolfPack battled back to tie it up at 14 with TRU going into the tech time out up 16-15. The Spartans though went on a 3-0 run to move up 19-16. Down 21-17, TRU got a kill from Savenchuk followed by a dump from
Abby Spratt (4
th year, setter, Calgary, AB) to make it 21-19 but that was as close at the WolfPack would get as they fell 25-19. The Spartans out blocked Thompson Rivers 6-5.
HIGHLIGHTS:
https://youtu.be/0_I_pzfKwbQ
THEY SAID IT!
WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm (6th season):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1228564857349271552
WolfPack middle Kseniya Kocyigt (1st year, middle, Byarosa, Belarus):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1228564760284692481
Trinity Western head coach Ryan Hofer (15th season):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1228565030670483456
NEXT UP:
Saturday will see the WolfPack honoring their lone graduating player: Finch. Trinity Western's three fifth year players: Mikaelyn Sych (Airdrie, AB), Jessica Bailey (Surrey, BC) and Michaella Crema (Surrey, BC) will also be recognized. This will happen after the match which has a 5 PM PDT start time.
The match will be shown on a pay-per view basis on Canada West TV presented by Co-op. You can access it 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 the match. CFJC TV's Dylana Milobar is the in game host both matches.
