KAMLOOPS – Despite getting better as the night wore on, it was a case of too little too late for a Thompson Rivers WolfPack men's volleyball team that started their 2021-22 season with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-15, 25-16) loss at the hands of the Trinity Western Spartans.
 
It was always going to be a difficult night for a young WolfPack team that has 12 new faces on the roster. TRU was going up against the reigning Canada West champion Spartans and a slow start didn't help the 'Pack in a 25-9 opening set loss.
 
"Trinity came out guns blazing," said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly. "We didn't have Sam Elgert today due to injury so that doesn't let Anton play outside hitter, it really impacted our offence on a couple fronts. With that said Trinity Western almost played flawlessly. Their serving was great, their passing was great. Things that we did well against them when we played in the preseason they didn't let happen, so they stepped it up a notch."
 
Playing setter for most of the match, Anton Napolitano led the way on a couple fronts for the 'Pack. The veteran from Australia had a team-high five kills while also adding ten assists. Rookie Matthew Hamilton added a further five kills while Thundersky Walkingbear finished the night with three kills, three assists and two aces.
 
The Spartans dominated across the boxscore, picking up 13 service aces to the WolfPack's three while also committing just two attack errors all night.
 
A positive for TRU is that they were able to rebound after the lopsided opening set, putting up tallies of 15 and 16 in the final two frames.
 
"One of the hardest things in sport is when things aren't going well and the other team is putting pressure on you, is to try to adapt," said Hennelly. "We did it eventually, it wasn't enough but it's absolutely a positive that we crept up and got better as it went on."
 
These teams will be back in action tomorrow night with a scheduled start time of 6:00 p.m. in Langley.