Madison Maichin
0
Thomspon Rivers University TRU 14-10,0-1
3
Winner University of British Columbia UBC 22-2,1-0
Thomspon Rivers University TRU
14-10,0-1
0
Final
3
University of British Columbia UBC
22-2,1-0
Winner
Set Scores
Team 1 2 3 F
Thomspon Rivers University TRU 15 12 12 (0)
University of British Columbia UBC 25 25 25 (3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | | TRU WolfPack

Young WolfPack squad fall to T-Birds in playoff return

QUICK FIRE
  • A tough task was on hand for a Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's volleyball team that made a return to the CW postseason Friday night in Vancouver. Playing their first playoff game since the 2019-20 season, TRU fell 3-0 (25-15, 25-12, 25-12) to the reigning national champion UBC Thunderbirds in the first of a best-of-three quarter-final.
DIFFERENCE MAKERS
  • Brooklyn Olfert led the way for TRU with seven kills and a solo block. Ema Palkovicova added four more while Sasha Haldane recorded a trio in the third set. Libby Meldrum recorded 20 assists for TRU.
  • Erika Vermette had a game-high 10 kills on just 15 swings for UBC. Lucy Borowski and Akash Grewal rounded off the top attackers with nine and eight respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
  • The battle-tested Thunderbirds came out the strongest of the two teams early. Olfert kept the 'Pack in it and an early solo block from the third-year outside hitter saw TRU keep close with UBC with the score 8-5 in favour of the T-Birds. Having their best offensive output of the game in that first set, the WolfPack received four kills from Olfert and a pair from Palkovicova but couldn't keep pace with UBC in a set that ended 25-15.
  • It was more of the same in a second set that UBC won by a score of 25-12, as the WolfPack struggled to find consistency in attack. Palkovicova had a pair of big kills and Faith Christensen recorded a block on the first set point but it wasn't enough for the 'Pack to challenge UBC.
  • After falling into a big hole early, TRU rallied late in the third. Sasha Haldane had a trio of kills and rookie Myah Cressy added another but the T-Birds proved to be too much too handle en route to another 25-12 victory.
NOTABLE
  • Every player for TRU was making their Canada West postseason debut.
  • The WolfPack have now played 18 playoff games in the program's history.
  • TRU's roster boasts just one graduating player in Palkovicova while UBC has six players in their fourth or fifth year of eligibility.
QUOTABLE - Head coach, Chad Grimm
  • "Obviously the score is not flattering and I don't think we represented ourselves great, you can point to a lot of different reasons for that but at the end of the day they dominated the serve and pass battle. Defensively we weren't good enough to slow them down, they sided out too easily and then when that happens you get a score like that."
  • "In a match like that there's no point in not getting lots of people playing time and that playoff feeling. No one on our team has been in the playoffs before so I think rolling people through when it's a little out of hand is okay to do. I thought some people came in and played well - Sasha came in and just played - whereas we were a little tentattive and stuck in a lot of senses so that's good to see."
  • "If we can go out and just compete tomorrow I'll be happy with that."
 
UP NEXT
  • The 'Pack will get another chance to knock off the T-Birds tomorrow evening inside War Memorial Gym in a game that gets underway at 5 p.m.
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