After having a bye last week, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack return to regular season play in Canada West men’s volleyball.
The WolfPack kick off a four match road trip before the pre-Christmas portion of their 2019-20 season concludes. This week they travel to Vancouver, BC for matches Friday and Saturday (Nov 22-23) against the Thunderbirds at the University of British Columbia. Friday’s match has an 11:30 AM PDT start time while Saturday’s begins at 6:30 PM PDT.
Thompson Rivers has a 1-5 record while UBC—under the direction of former TRU player, assistant coach and interim head coach Mike Hawkins have a 5-3 record. That is good enough for a three way tie for fourth place in the Canada West. The T-Birds have also won their last four matches. The Pack are in a two way tie for 10th.
The Thunderbirds go into the weekend unbeaten in four home matches. The Pack have a two losses on the road.
The WolfPack have three players among the statistical leaders in Canada West. Anton Napolitano (4th year, setter, Victoria, AUS) is third in the league in both digs per set (2.21) and assists per set (8.83). He is also fourth in service aces per set (0.58).
Samuel Elgert (2nd year, setter, Athabasca, AB) is second in the league in service aces per set (0.71) while Landon Currie (3rd year, libero, Vernon, BC) stands fifth in digs per set (1.96).
Statistical leaders for UBC are Micheal Dowhaniuk (2nd year, outside hitter, Surrey,BC) leads Canada West in hitting percentage (.452). Matt Neaves (2nd year,outside hitter, Calgary, AB) is tied for third in kills (101) while Ben Hooker (3rd year, setter, Winnipeg, MB) is tied for fourth in the league in assists per set (8.69).
The teams met last year at the Tournament Capital Centre to begin the 2018-19 season. Thompson Rivers took both of those matches. They won 3-1 the first night (Oct 26) and needed five sets to win on the Saturday (Oct 27).
The WolfPack have a 2-2 record at UBC the last four matches they have played there. On Nov 9-10, 2017, TRU lost in straight sets both nights. The previous visit was February 5-6, 2016 where the Pack swept. They won the first night in four sets: 31-33,25-15,25-18,25-23. The second night, the won in five: 20-25,25-18,27-25,23-25, 20-18.
The Thunderbirds have no fifth year players on their roster. The WolfPack have three: Sam Taylor Parks (Kelowna, BC), Charlie Bringloe (Waterloo, ON) and Kyle Behiels (Edmonton, AB).
After this weekend, the WolfPack will move to Saskatoon Saskatchewan to face the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on November 29th and 30th before the Christmas break.
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.
COMMENTS OF WOLFPACK ASSISTANT HEAD COACH DREW VENABLES:
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1197358324036952064
COMMENTS OF WOLFPACK SETTER ANTON NAPOLITANO (4TH YEAR, VICTORIA, AUS):
https://twitter.com/GoTRUWolfPack/status/1197358297562566656
[SOURCE: Thompson Rivers University]