By Larry Read - TRU Athletics

Pandas take WolfPack to open weekend women’s volleyball series

Dec 3, 2017 | 9:07 AM

EDMONTON, AB — The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack opened up a two match Canada West women’s volleyball series on the wrong foot.

The WolfPack dropped below .500 as they were beaten in straight sets by the host University of Alberta Pandas at the Saville Centre on Saturday (Dec 2).

The scores were 25-19,25-20,25-15 as the Pandas snapped a two match losing streak.  TRU was led by Yevgeniya Nyukhalova  (1st year, outside hitter, Severdontsk, Ukraine)  with 16 kills. That was a match high.  Nyukhalova also had six attacking errors.

SYNOPSIS

The WolfPack fall to 5-6 on the season while the Pandas move to 6-5.  Alberta pulled away from TRU in the first set thanks to a solid 24.2 per cent attack and eight errors by the WolfPack.

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In the second set, Nykhalova and Rachel Windhorst (4th year, outside hitter, Surrey, BC) combined for 12 of TRU’s 15 kills.

KEY STATS:

TRU

Yevgeniya Nyukhalova: 16 kills in 39 chances, 4 digs, 1 block assist

Rachel Windhorst : 11 kills in 27 chances. 1 assist, 1 service ace, 3 digs

Anastasiya Muzyka (1st year setter, Potawa, Ukraine):20 assists

Kendra Finch (3rd year outside hitter, North Van, BC) 19 digs

Alberta:

Kory White: 13 kills in 29 opportunities. 7 digs. 1 solo block, 1 block assist

Erin Corbett: 12 kills in 25 chances. 4 digs

Eryn Orysiuk: 34 assists, 4 service aces, 5 digs, 2 block assists

Julia Zonneveld: 13 digs.

RECORDS:

TRU: 5-6    Alberta: 6-5

QUOTES:

TRU head coach Chad Grimm

Thoughts on the match:  “ I thought Alberta did a good job of defending the ball. They made some great plays on defence. We had trouble moving on from those plays. Even though in lots of those rallies we had the advantage, we couldn’t reset fast enough to use them to get another swing out of those opportunities. As a group, it got too us a little more than it should. We need to bounce back tomorrow. Offensively, Jane had a good night.  With our personnel that we have we made some adjustments. We need to be a little more flexible as a whole group and embrace the job we have to do and do a good job tomorrow.”

UP NEXT:

The Pandas and WolfPack will play Sunday afternoon (130 pm MDT) in their final match before the teams break for Christmas exams.

Next home match for Thompson Rivers will be Friday, January 19, 2018 when they entertain the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on the Warner Rentals Court at the Tournament Capital Centre. Game time will be 6 pm.