Image Credit: Andrew Snucins

By Victor Kaisar

WolfPack Recap

WolfPack women beat Spartans in five-set volleyball thriller at TCC

Nov 23, 2024 | 10:05 AM

KAMLOOPS — An historic win for the Thompson Rivers WolfPack women’s volleyball team as they beat the Trinity Western Spartans 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 26-24, 18-25, 15-8) Friday night (Nov. 22) at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops.

The five-sets victory was just the WolfPack’s third ever over the Spartans in Canada West history dating back to the 2005-06 season.

“It was an up-and-down match, we had some poor starts but were able to turn it around – especially in the third set,” WolfPack Head Coach Chad Grimm said. “It was nice to turn it around but isn’t something we can continuously do and expect to get a result.”

Brooklyn Olfert led the way with 21 kills, three digs and two aces for TRU, while Rida Erlalelitepe had 18 kills, eight digs and a pair of aces. Hadley Schmidt, a fourth-year setter, also added 35 assists, nine digs and three aces for the home team.

Fifth-ranked TRU improves to 5-2 while fourth-ranked Trinity Western drops to 5-4.

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“I think we can compete with anybody, and that doesn’t always mean that you’re going to get a result, but we can put ourselves in the fight every night if we do our jobs consistently,” Grimm added.

Over in men’s volleyball action, TRU were beaten 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-21) at the TCC Friday to drop to 2-5 on the season.

Sam Flowerday, Dylan Annala and Rylan Ibbetson each had eight kills for the ‘Pack, while rookie libero Brandon Johnson had 27 service receptions in his Canada West debut.

“We had a bad weekend last weekend where we failed to take our moments to put sets away and I think that happened again in the first set, we made couple mental mistakes and unfortunately our confidence level right now isn’t high enough to overcome that,” men’s Head Coach Pat Hennelly said.

“The energy was better than last weekend for sure, but we were playing a higher quality opponent.”

Both teams will rematch at the TCC this afternoon – the men at 3:00 p.m. followed by the women at 4:45 p.m.

WolfPack drop pair of basketball games in Langley

In Canada West basketball action on the road in Langley, the WolfPack women were beaten 57-46 by the Spartans Friday night, despite a strong second half showing.

The winless WolfPack outscored the Spartans 33-14 in the second half, but the hosts were able to host on and improve to 3-4.

Danijela Kovacevic had a game-high 15 points for the WolfPack along with three steals, while rookie Morgan Eichenberger grabbed 14 rebounds and added eight points.

The WolfPack men were also beaten 84-63 on the road and sit 3-4, while the Spartans improve to 2-5.

Asher Mayan led the way for TRU with 17 points, five rebounds and five assists. Denys Bachurin added 12 points of his own while Steve Stinson finished with ten points and two steals.

The WolfPack will get the chance for payback this afternoon in Langley with the women’s game scheduled for 4:00 p.m., followed by the men at 6:00 p.m..