Lots of happy faces at the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops on Friday afternoon (Nov 15). The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack held their second annual “School Day” and over 13 hundred area elementary and secondary students got to miss school and cheer their team onto a straight set win over the Regina Cougars in Canada West women’s volleyball.
The scores were 25-23,25-22,25-22 as the WolfPack moved to 6-1 on the season. The Cougars dropped to 1-6.
Thompson Rivers had a balanced attack and were led by Kendra Finch (5th year, outside hitter, North Vancouver, BC) who had 10 kills in 25 attempts with 13 digs, a service ace, a solo block and a block assist.
Olga Savenchuk (2nd year, outside hitter, Donetsk, Ukraine) had seven kills in 20 opportunities with two digs and five block assists. Anastasiia Muzyka (3rd year, setter, Poltawa, Ukraine) was named “The Den” Leader of the Pack player of the match with 20 assists, 3 service aces, three digs, a solo block and three block assists.
Regina had three players with eight kills: Britt Davis (4th year, outside, Sherwood Park, AB) , Diana Lumbala (5th year, outside hitter, Moose Jaw, SK) and Brittany Rousseaux ( 3rd year, outside hitter, Regina, SK) . Davis had 32 attempts, Lumbala 17 and Rousseaux had 35.
Elizabeth Tooth (3rd year, setter, Winnipg, MB) had 21 assists and five digs.
SYNOPSIS:
Spurred on by the huge crowd, the WolfPack rolled out to a five point advantage to begin the first set. The Cougars knawed away at the deficit and had taken a 13-12 lead at one point before going into the technical time out ahead by one (16-15). The teams exchanged points with TRU going up by three at one point before winding up winning the opening set 25-23. Lumbala had four kills for the Cougars in seven swings. Avery Pottle (4th year, outside hitter, Uxbridge, ON) and Savenchuk each had three kills a piece. TRU with five team blocks in the opening stanza compared to only two for Regina.
The WolfPack took the second set 25-22 thanks in part to four kills from Finch and three from Kseniya Kocyigt (1st year, middle, Byarosza, Belarus). Lumbala had four kills for Regina while Davis added two
.
The third set saw TRU jump to a 2-0 lead until Regina went on a run to lead 6-3 forcing the Pack to call a time out. The attempt to ‘freeze the server’ didn’t work as the Cougars notched the next two points (at that point taking 8 of the last nine points). But it was the WolfPack who made it to the tech time out up by one for the second straight set (16-15).
The match saw two local products show their skills before the school children. Katie House (2nd year, outside hitter) played all three sets for the Cougars. The South Kamloops grad had one kill one dig and one block assist. Katie Ludvig (3rd year, libero/outside hitter) appeared in one set. The Sa-Hali Secondary grad had one dig.
HIGHLIGHTS:
https://youtu.be/uBLDhlAZeH8
THEY SAID IT!
WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm (6th season):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1195473434676879360
Cougars head coach Melanie Sanford:
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1195473407455842304
WolfPack libero Hali Drezet (4th year, Prince George, BC)
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1195472666951467008
NEXT UP:
The two teams will conclude their weekend series tomorrow (Sat Nov 16) at noon PDT at the Tournament Capital Centre. The crowd at the TCC was augmented by teams competing in an elementary school volleyball tournament being hosted by both WolfPack teams
Saturday’s match will be shown on a pay-per view basis on Canada West TV presented by Co-op. You can access them by accessing: https://cw.yaretv.com/. TRU Sports Information Officer Larry Read and men’s volleyball setter Anton Napolitano will have the call on Saturday. Results will be available on the WolfPack social media platforms and their website www.goWolfPack.ca.
[SOURCE: Thompson Rivers University]