Thompson Rivers University TRU 13-7,0-2

University of British Columbia UBC 15-5,2-0

Thompson Rivers University TRU

13-7,0-2

Final

Mar. 01, 2025

University of British Columbia UBC

15-5,2-0

Set Scores
Team	1	2	3	F
Thompson Rivers University TRU	16	20	7	(0)
University of British Columbia UBC	25	25	25	(3)

Game Recap: Women's Volleyball | 3/1/2025 8:51:00 PM | TRU WolfPack

WolfPack bow out at CW quarter-final stage

QUICK FIRE

One of the strongest seasons in program history came to an end Saturday night for a Thompson Rivers WolfPack women's volleyball team that was bested 3-0 (25-16, 25-20, 25-7) by the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver.
The result secures the best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series for UBC who will advance to the conference's final four next weekend. For the WolfPack, the defeat brings an end to their 2024-25 campaign.

DIFFERENCE MAKERS

First Team Canada West All-Star Rida Erlalelitepe led the WolfPack offence with 11 kills. Brooklyn Olfert added five kills and eight digs while Faith Christensen had one solo and three block assists.
Akash Grewal hit .571 per cent on the night to rack up a game-high 13 kills while also firing in a six service aces. Lucy Borowski added seven kills and three aces for a Thunderbirds team that fired in 11 aces in the match.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Erlalelitepe and Gent both had a pair of kills in the first for TRU. The WolfPack were right with UBC early as Libby Meldrum and Maria Dancheva combined for a block that made the score just 11-8 in favour of the Thunderbirds. Eight blocks in the set allowed UBC to pull away from there however, as the hosts took the frame 25-16.
TRU played their best volleyball of the weekend in the second set. Erlalelitepe powered down six kills with Brooklyn Olfert adding five. Christensen put an exclamation point on an early 6-2 TRU run to start the frame with a solo block. After UBC roared back to take 7-6 edge, Christensen combined with Meldrum and Erlalelitepe for back-to-back blocks as the WolfPack pulled back in front with a 10-7 lead. That TRU lead was short-lived however as a 7-0 UBC run in the middle of the frame allowed the hosts to pull out to a 16-11 edge. Kills from Hailey Ward and Erlalelitepe combined with a Kate Lamothe ace brought TRU right back into the match. Another Erlalelitepe kill cut the UBC advantage to just 20-19 but that was as close as TRU would come as UBC pulled out the 25-20 set victory.
The Thunderbirds ran away with the third set to take the match and secure the series sweep.

NOTABLE

This was the first WolfPack team ever to be ranked in the U SPORT Top 10 for an entire season.
TRU is making their second-consecutive appearance in the CW postseason and their sixth in the last nine seasons.
UBC are the two-time defending U SPORTS National Champions

QUOTABLE (WolfPack head coach, Chad Grimm)

"That was not the way we wanted to go out, but I thought the battle level was there. I didn't think the first set was super indicative of that, but in the second set I thought we played our game."
"We didn't manage to execute for lone enough periods of time and I think that was the difference. UBC executed at a high level for six sets this weekend and we didn't. We had flashes but in some critical moments they took care of the ball better than we did."
"It wasn't a fight or an effort thing, it was an execution thing and we have to learn to execute at a higher level for a longer time if we want to take the next step that includes getting past teams like UBC."
"We'll reflect on what was generally a positive season. We had some growth and were learning how to deal with the expectations that come with being a nationally top 10 ranked team all year and what that feels like. Hopefully we gain some growth out of that and are able to use that experience to drive us forward next season."