The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s volleyball team are the 2013-14 Canada West bronze medal champions.
The WolfPack captured the bronze Saturday night (Feb. 22) at the Canada West final four competition held at the Langley Events Centre.
Thompson Rivers downed the Brandon University Bobcats 3-1. The scores were 25-21, 23-25, 26-24, 25-23.
“We were fourth in the regular season and to finish up third is a great achievement,” said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly, whose team missed the post season the past two years.
The WolfPack were led by Canada West MVP Brad Gunter (3rd year, outside hitter, Courtenay, BC) with 24 kills in 46 swings with 14 digs.
Casey Knight (4th year, outside hitter, Salt Spring Island, BC) had 14 kills in 31 opportunities. Blake Majcher (4th year, libero, Brandon, MB) had 11 digs.
The fourth set saw Brandon lead 10-3 before the WolfPack mounted a comeback to take it and win the match. “It was like we played all year,” Hennelly said. “We battled back after bending. It was a learning curve. We were battling point for point and that is something I like to see.”
As he looks to the future, Hennelly says: “We get a lot of players back. We were eighth in the Canada West pre-season poll and finished third. We were nationally ranked. Our program is on the way back.”
The WolfPack lost 3-0 to the University of Alberta Gold Bears in the Friday semifinals. The scores were 25-17, 26-24, 25-17.
“We just couldn’t get going tonight,” said Hennelly. “Alberta is a veteran club and to their credit they made lots of noise. I thought if we were going to be successful we would have to have a better serving game than Alberta. But clearly, that wasn’t the case. In the second set, when the score was close we were tight and looking around.”
TRU was led by Gunter with 16 kills in 35 swings with 14 digs. “Brad was good again tonight,” said Hennelly.
– TRU WolfPack