The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s volleyball team left Manitoba with a split. The WolfPack have fallen to 5-9 in Canada West after dropping a 3-0 decision to the host Bisons on Saturday night (Nov. 22).
The scores were 25-23, 26-19, 25-22. Manitoba improved to 7-7.
TRU coach Pat Hennelly stated: “Could not seem to get rolling tonight. Manitoba definitely played better and were more aggressive from the service line and attacking. We played good volleyball but could not seem to stop giving small runs of points."
The WolfPack were led by CIS Player of the Year Brad Gunter (4th year, outside hitter, Courtenay). He had 17 kills in 28 chances with three service aces and five digs. “Brad had a rebound game,” Hennelly assessed. “But unfortunately, Casey and Randy struggled a bit. It was the opposite of last match and I guess the opposite outcome as well.”
The 'Pack opened their Canada West men’s volleyball road swing the right way, defeating the Bisons 3-1 on Friday night. The scores were 25-20, 31-29, 23-25, 25-22. Gunter had 12 kills in 40 opportunities with a service ace, six digs and two block assists.
The WolfPack close out the pre-Christmas portion of their Canada West season with back-to-back matches this weekend (Nov. 28-29) at home in Kamloops against the top team in the league: the Alberta Golden Bears. Thompson Rivers will be hosting an international tournament including Budo, Japan during the Christmas holidays.
Women Earn Split
The WolfPack women's volleyball team also earned a split of their weekend action in Winnipeg. TRU's record fell to 7-7 after they dropped a straight set decision to the hometown Bisons on Saturday (Nov. 22). The scores were 25-23, 31-29, 25-19. The Bisons moved to 6-8 on the year.
“At some points tonight we played similar to our win on Friday (Nov. 21, in five sets),” said WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm. “But we lost our control in serve/receive. In the second set we missed 10 serves and shot ourselves in the foot.”
The coach gave credit to Carly Gunter (1st year, Courtenay) and Kara Twomey (3rd year, setter, Winnipeg, MB). “Carly was strong on defence as she got the start at libero. Kara did a great job of distributing the ball.”
TRU won Friday's night match 3-2.
The WolfPack return home to close out the pre-Christmas portion of their regular season this weekend (Nov. 28-29) with two matches against the top team in the league: the Alberta Pandas.