Image Credit: Andrew Snucins

By Victor Kaisar

WolfPack Volleyball Recap

WolfPack men gearing up for must-win volleyball season finale

Feb 15, 2025 | 9:51 AM

KAMLOOPS — The TRU WolfPack men’s volleyball team are down but not out in their quest for a Canada West playoff berth.

The WolfPack dropped a 3-1 (25-23, 17-25, 25-20, 26-24) decision to the Brandon Bobcats at the Tournament Capital Centre (TCC) Friday (Feb. 14) night to sit at 6-13 on the season, with one game left to play.

Friday’s result means the Bobcats have qualified for the playoffs with a 9-10 record. It also means the WolfPack need to win Saturday’s rematch at the TCC, and hope that the UFV Cascades lose to the UBC Thunderbirds if they are to clinch tenth and final playoff spot.

“We know we have to be better between plays, we have to reset a little better,” Head Coach Pat Hennelly said, of Saturday’s must-win game.

“There were defensive sets where we had stuff that we worked all week on but we missed those opportunities. Those are the moments where guys minds are racing with what is at stake, but we just have to find a way to refocus.”

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Graduating duo Sam Flowerday and Matthew Hamilton led the way in their final weekend of Canada West regular season action. Flowerday had a team-high 16 kills and added four aces to move past Brad Gunter as the WolfPack’s all-time leader in aces with 110.

Not to be outdone, Hamilton chipped in with eight kills and an ace while Rylan Ibbetson recorded 12 kills and 17 digs.

“Flowerday and Hammy have been steady for us and I think they both had excellent games tonight,” Hennelly said. “Credit to those two guys, they came out to play today.”

The already playoff-bound WolfPack women swept Brandon 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, 25-16) Friday night to move to 12-7 on the season. They sit in fifth place in Canada West along with the 12-7 Mount Royal Cougars with one game left to play in the regular season.

Keira Gent led the WolfPack with a game-high nine kills to go along with an ace Friday night. Maria Dancheva tallied eight kills, two digs and two blocks, while Brooklyn Olfert had a trio of service aces to go along with her seven kills.

Elsewhere, Rida Erlalelitepe had a trio of service aces to go along with 11 digs, four kills and two blocks, while Faith Christensen had five blocks, three kills and two digs.

“Generally I thought we did a pretty good job of sticking to the gameplan,” WolfPack Head Coach Chad Grimm said. “I thought our block defence was fairly good and we followed what we wanted to do in the service game.”

Friday’s win means the WolfPack will get a bye in the first round of playoffs as they finished in the top six in the Conference. They won’t get to host a playoff game though as they can’t catch fourth place UBC (15-4).

The WolfPack and Bobcats will rematch at the TCC Saturday afternoon, with the men’s game scheduled for 3:00 p.m. followed by the women’s game at 4:45 p.m.