KAMLOOPS – They fought all the way back after falling into an early hole but the Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's volleyball team came up just shy of completing the comeback in a 3-2 (25-23, 25-17, 13-25, 15-25, 15-10) loss to the Calgary Dinos.
"We obviously didn't put ourselves in a great situation early," said WolfPack head coach
Chad Grimm. "Calgary came out better and we came out a little tentative, especially from the service line, and then they were in system and when they're in system they are tough to stop."
The game was one that featured massive momentum swings throughout the contest. Calgary dominated the proceedings early and then TRU appeared poised to secure the reverse sweep before Calgary responded to take the match.
Daisy Olsen was dominant for Calgary. The second-year outside hitter racked up 20 kills on her 36 swings while also adding three blocks in the contest. Alice Nikolaychuk and Michela Alongi rounded out the top scorers for the visitors with eight and seven kills respectively while Evelyn Kath had 33 assists.
Ema Palkovicova (16 kills), rookie
Keira Gent (15) and
Brooklyn Olfert (13) powered the offence for TRU. Playing the entirety of the game for the first time this year, second-year setter
Libby Meldrum had 41 assists for TRU.
"She's just steady, she doesn't get too high and doesn't get too low," said Grimm on the impressive play from Gent early in her U SPORTS career. "She passes the ball well and has a high contact point, so she doesn't get herself in too much trouble with the block. For a first year to go out and manage the game in the way that she did is pretty impressive."
In what was a sign of things to come later in the game, the first set saw the Dinos fend off a late WolfPack comeback.
After trailing by as many as seven points TRU rallied and fought all the way back to 23-24 before a pair of kills courtesy of Reed put the game away from Calgary.
The second set was all Dinos. Defensively they held TRU to just eight kills in the set while Olsen had six all by herself to all the visitors to comfortable take a 25-17 victory.
Despite looking down and out, the WolfPack found another gear on home court and refused to go away quietly. Everything went right for the 'Pack as they cruised to 25-15 victory in a set that they hit .625 per cent as a team.
TRU kept that momentum going in the fourth and were able to force a fifth set thanks in large part to an incredible service run from
Addison Witkowski. The second year middle was on the line for an eith-point run that included four aces.
"Our service and general defence improved, I thought we saw our hesitation dissipate a little bit but then we saw it come back in the fifth set," said Grimm on what his team did better during the middle sets. "Being in those high-pressure situations will hopefully help us deal with it a little better next time."
Olsen was once again the story in the fifth. The product of Airdrie, AB put the finishing touches on a 6-2 Dino run with a solo block to give the Dinos a 14-9 lead en route to their set and match victory.
TRU (1-3) will hit the road next weekend when they travel to Saskatoon for a pair of games with the Saskatchewan Huskies. Calgary (1-3) will also head to Saskatchewan as they are set to face the Regina Cougars.
