Image Credit: TRU WolfPack Athletics/Andrew Snucins

By Adam Donnelly

TRU WOLFPACK MEN'S VOLLEYBALL

Tragic crash has helped galvanize WolfPack men’s volleyball team

Jan 25, 2024 | 5:30 PM

KAMLOOPS – It’s been nearly two months since a crash at McGill Road and University Way took the life of TRU WolfPack men’s volleyball player Owyn McInnis and severely injured two others, Riley Brinnen and Owen Waterhouse.

“I was asked countless times, ‘How are you guys going to go forward? How are you going to play the rest of the year?’” TRU WolfPack men’s volleyball coach Pat Hennelly told hundreds gathered at a celebration of life for Owyn McInnis on January 10.

Those were questions on many minds in the aftermath of the horrific crash that took place on November 29 just off campus that killed one WolfPack player and left two more severely injured. In the days following that incident, the team decided to keep playing — for the memory of one fallen comrade and to honour the two who were in the hospital, fighting for their lives.

“We’re doing this, obviously, for Owyn’s memory,” Hennelly said. “But we’re also doing this for Riley Brinnen, who is fighting for his new place in life and to adapt. And we’re fighting for Owen Waterhouse who’s been six weeks laying in a bed and we’re hopeful. We know he’s fighting and we’re going to keep doing it.”

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For the players, it was important to embody that fighting spirit. They decided to keep playing because they felt they had a reason greater than volleyball to play for.

“We’ve gone to the hospitals a couple of times to see [Riley and Owen] and if we’re going there to tell them, ‘You’ve got to stay positive and fight for your life,’ we’ve got to do the same on our end,” third-year outside hitter Matthew Hamilton explains. “For us, that might look different, but it means stepping onto the court every time, bringing that intensity and playing for those guys. Because you never know when your last day could be on the court.”

“I think it’s brought us together a lot, especially realizing you never know which day is your last,” Sam Flowerday, another third-year outside hitter explains. “It’s obviously really sad, but what’s come out of it is really good. Everyone is together, we’ve got a lot more close as a unit and I think that’s translated on and off the court.”

That refrain has become a bit of a mantra for a team that has produced a pair of USPORTS Athlete of the Week performances in the winter semester. Hamilton took home the honour in Winnipeg, after racking up 33 kills in a weekend split against the Wesmen. Sam Flowerday’s 43 kills against the UBC Okanagan Heat last weekend earned him national recognition.

“For him to do that, it’s not really a surprise,” Hamilton says of Flowerday’s performance against UBCO. “He has that ability and I think he really had that fire in him both nights to close out those games because if those sets had gone the other way, we’d be pretty disappointed with those results.”

Since returning from an extended winter break, the WolfPack have won five of the six matches they’ve played, including four straight at home after defeating MacEwen and UBC Okanagan. This weekend, they’re hosting the Trinity Western Spartans at the TCC, a perennial volleyball powerhouse. A pair of wins would go a long way to help secure the WolfPack a spot in the CanadaWest playoffs.

“These are pretty important games,” Flowerday says. “Trinity is a pretty well-known team, they’re good year-to-year, so — especially when we’re tied with them now in the standings, we’ve got the same records, so it would be good to get at least one win out of it and push up the rankings a bit more.”

Those games against the Spartans are set for Thursday, January 25 and Friday, January 26. The men are scheduled to start at 6:45 pm Thursday at the TCC.