The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack got off to a good start but were unable to maintain their momentum as they fell to the UBC Thunderbirds 3-1 in matinee Canada West men’s volleyball on Friday (Nov 22).The scores were 29-31, 25-23,25-23,25-20.
The WolfPack fall to 1-6 on the season while UBC moves to 6-3.
Nemo Benne led the way for the WolfPack with 12 kills. Charlie Bringloe (5th year, outside hitter, Waterloo, ON) had 10 .
Matt Neaves led the way for UBC with 15 kills and four service aces while Colton Liu added 11 kills and two service aces. The Thunderbirds have won five in a row now.
SYNOPSIS
The WolfPack were down in the first set but rallied to cut the deficit to two. They wound up tying at 10 before the Thunderbirds went on a mini run leading 16-13 going into the tech time out. Helping with the WolfPack comeback was a 7-0 serving run by Samuel Elgert (2nd year, setter, Athabasca, AB) . Bringloe, Benne, Josh Mullaney (4th year, outside hitter, Calgary, AB) and Sam Taylor Parks (5th year, middle, Kelowna, BC) all had three kills.
The second set was also close with UBC reaching the tech time out at 16-15. The Pack pulled to within one at 24-23 thanks to back to back kills from Kyle Behiels (5th year, middle, Edmonton, AB).
The Pack were up 12-10 in the third set before UBC scored the next three pointsd to lead 16-14 at the tech time out.
In the fourth and final set, Neaves scored the set and match point on a huge kill.
.Said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly after the match, ” We had a great comeback in the first spurred on by Sam Elgert’s serving. Nino Benne was very efficient in attacking and solid in the back court. Kyle Behiels and Sam Taylor Parks both were solid in the middle. Landon Currie made some impressive digs. Both teams played some very good volleyball and it showed in the close games.”
While former WolfPack player, assistant and interim head coach Mike Hawkins, now the bench boss at UBC stated, “”I thought we did a good job coming out with energy and I thought TRU was a little flat,but it doesn’t take a whole lot for them to get going and once they do they like to play with emotion and I thought they did a great job coming back in that first set. I then challenged our guys, demanded more in terms of how we’re playing as a team, that’s been a big emphasis the last couple of weeks, how we’re playing as a team and being a collective rather than a group of individuals that are obviously talented. Once we woke up a bit in that sense, I thought then we could play our style, our game and that’s why we came away with three straight sets.”
UP NEXT:
Thompson Rivers and UBC will tangle again in Vancouver tomorrow (Nov 23). Match time is 6:30 PM. Next weekend, the WolfPack will wind up the pre-Christmas portion of their season when they pay a visit to Saskatoon Saskatchewan and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
They don’t play a home match until January 10, 2020 when the University of Manitoba Bisons pay a visit to the Tournament Capital Centre.
All of the above games can been seen on a pay per view basis on Canada West TV presented by Co-op by accessing: https://cw.yaretv.com/. Results will be available on the WolfPack social media platforms and their website www.goWolfPack.ca.
(With Assistance from UBC Sports Information)
[SOURCE: Thompson Rivers University]