MARIA DANCHEVA. (Image Credit: CFJC Today/Anthony Corea)

By Marty Hastings

Raucous Crowd

WolfPack win first home playoff match in program history, push defending national champions to brink of elimination

Feb 26, 2026 | 9:37 PM

KAMLOOPS — Maria Dancheva led the TRU WolfPack with 16.5 points in a 3-2 victory over the Manitoba Bisons in Match 1 of a best-of-three women’s Canada West volleyball quarter-final series on Thursday [Feb. 26] at the Tournament Capital Centre. 

“I actually loved the crowd,” said Dancheva, the 6-foot-5 Bulgarian who was menacing at the net. “It feeds me. It was nice to have this many people today.” 

A crowd of about 1,200 fans was in attendance for the first home playoff match in WolfPack women’s volleyball history, which dates back to 2005. 

“If we look at the numbers, our outsides struggled tonight as far as efficiency,” WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm said. “Sometimes, we had to switch things up. You’d see Maria hit quite a few balls from the wings. She was bringing it.”

Raya Surinx – two-time U Sports women’s volleyball player of the year – led the Bisons in scoring, with 20 points. 

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While Surinx was at the service line, some fans – including a few wearing orange spandex outfits and wigs – were intent on attempting to distract her, standing within metres of the national star while banging drums.

“It’s honestly kind of nice because I take it as a compliment,” said Surinx, who had three service aces and two service errors on 23 attempts, along with a .913 serve percentage. “I’m a big overthinker. I was overthinking a lot about my serve and serve and pass yesterday. It wasn’t going well for me. That was kind of a distraction for myself. I was able to trust my training. It was good.” 

TRU won the first (25-22), third (25-16) and fifth (15-8) sets to push its record to 3-0 against Manitoba this season. 

“I think we were all pretty nervous, but I think they were good nerves,” WolfPack outside hitter Hail Ward of Kamloops said. “Our past experiences with quarter-finals [lopsided losses to UBC in 2024 and 2025] haven’t been great. They were nerves that were motivating us.”

The Bisons – who failed to win a set in two regular season matches against the WolfPack in November in Kamloops – won the second set 25-13 and fourth set 25-20. 

Keira Gent had 16 points and Ward had 13.5 points for the WolfPack, who did not seem content with their performance despite the victory. 

“I think a win is a win,” Dancheva said. “We can play cleaner. I hope we learned our lessons and do better tomorrow.” 

The WolfPack can win the series with a victory over the defending national champion Bisons on Friday [Feb. 27] at the TCC. Game time is 6 p.m. 

Match 3, if necessary, is slated for 6 p.m. on Saturday [Feb. 28] at the TCC. 

“I think we played really well tonight,” Surinx said. “The outcome wasn’t what we wanted but I think we’re really playing as a unit and playing with joy and what more can you ask for. It went well. We just didn’t finish it.”