KAMLOOPS – It was another night of improvement for the Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's volleyball team, who played their best set of the season in a 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 27-25) loss to the Trinity Western Spartans in Langley, B.C.
 
After dropping the first two sets by a wide margin the WolfPack refused to quit, sending the third set into extra points and having a pair of set points of their own at 24-22 and 25-24.
 
"Overall we came out much better even if the scores in the first few sets didn't show it. We played much better, were much less hesitant and played our game," said WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm. "Serving kind of shot us in the foot early but once we got past that I thought we competed better, went after the block a little more and defended better for sure."
 
The efficient Spartans hit .329 as a team while also holding the WolfPack to a mark of .047.
 
Erin Mutch, a third year from Victoria, had a team-high seven kills on 21 attacks for the 'Pack. Siobhan Toal had a well-rounded night with three kills, two aces and a solo block. Rookie Hadley Schmidt directed the offence with ten assists.
 
Seray Altay got off to a hot start for the 'Pack, recording three kills in an opening set that the Spartans won 25-13.
 
After a second set that was just 16-11 at the technical timeout before the Spartans pulled away for the 25-15 win, the WolfPack gave TWU everything they could handle and more in the third frame.
 
A pair of aces from Brooklyn Olfert gave the 'Pack a 12-11 lead. The teams traded points before a big kill from Mutch put the WolfPack up by two with the score 20-18. When that score ran to 24-22 the 'Pack had a shot at winning the set before a pair of kills from Savannah Purdy of the Spartans knotted the game up. From there Trinity Western would win three of the next four points en route to the straights-set victory.
 
"I though Erika Andjelic did a great job coming in, she steadied our serve reception and that was great to see," said Chad Grimm on players that stood out in the match. "It was also nice to see Faith Christensen out there making some noise in the middle and then Siobhan Toal on the outside attacked the block and that was something that we had talked about getting better at."
 
Next up for the WolfPack is their home opening games next weekend where they will welcome their Interior rivals, the UBC Okanagan Heat.