Saturday is all right for winning as far as the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's volleyball team is concerned.
The WolfPack won their fourth match of the Canada West season on Saturday night (Nov 15). They downed the visiting University of Winnipeg Wesmen 3-1. The 25-22, 25-22, 18-25,25-15.
Thompson Rivers has a record of 4-8: three of those victories have come on Saturday night. Winnipeg drops to 8-2.
"I think the guys were looser and expecting more opposition," said 'Pack head coach Pat Hennelly. " I don't know what happened on Friday. We had a good crowd last night and had another good one tonight. Maybe it coming from the coaching staff as well. Maybe we need to relax. We all know the importance of the games. I know every guy on our team is working hard and wants to win. I think we need to get back to playing play by play and let the wins and losses happen. We are in a league where anyone can beat anyone. You see here tonight that potentially one of these teams is not going to make the playoffs. I hope it is not the WolfPack. There are quality players on both sides. For us, we have to relax and focus on game time."
"We played well last night and didn't tonight," explained Winnipeg head coach Larry McKay. " We certainly weren't hot tonight. We did not play well in any aspect of the game. Last night we excelled in almost every facet."
McKay isn't blaming the loss on fatigue but something else. " I think it's youth. These young men are still finding their way. As humans they will have ups and downs. It was more doing something at a high level two consecutive nights or sets. Both teams have skilled players who when they aren't playing well pull themselves up. It so happened that tonight, we played poorly and they capitalized on us.
TRU was led by CIS Player of the Year Brad Gunter (Fourth year, outside hitter, Courtenay, BC). He had 24 kills in 44 chances with three digs and three block assists.
Stuart Richey (Fifth year, outside hitter, Gibson's BC) had seven kills in 18 opportunities with a service ace, three digs, a solo block and a block assist.
Graham Stoliker (Fourth year, Surrey, BC) had 41 assists and 10 digs along with two block assits.
The TRU Bookstore/McDonalds "Leader of the Pack" Player of the Match was Daniel Eikeland Rod (Third year, middle, Oz, Norway). He had eight kills in 12 swings with two digs and five block assists.
"What he brings is a really tough serve night in and night out," assessed Hennelly. "He plays great defense for a middle. We have him in the back row to pass at times. He brings a lot of things to the table skill wise that don't get noticed. He was crucial in the fourth set. He had six kills in that set alone. The explosive offense he provides is essential to our success."
Winnipeg was led by Casey Schouton (Third year, outside, East St. Paul, MB) with 17 kills in 36 chances with a serving ace, five digs and six block assists.
Tom Douglas-Powell (Fifth year, outside, Brisbane, AUS) had 14 kills in 28 chances with five digs and five block assists.
Joshua McKay (Fourth year, setter, Winnipeg, MB) had 42 assists, five digs and five block assists.
The WolfPack hit the road for Manitoba next week (Nov 21-22) before returning home to conclude the pre-Christmas portion of their season as they host the first place Alberta Golden Bears (Nov 28-29) at the Tournament Capital Centre. The match time on Friday, November 28 th is 7:45 pm.
Winnipeg will visit the UBC Thunderbirds in Vancouver next weekend
(Nov 21-22)
SIDE OUTS: Hennelly says he is still trying to figure out his team's mental attitude to matches. "Some guys are wound up a little tight and some guys aren't. It is weird. I said to them: the million dollar question is what we did last week in Brandon and not do last night. It is not that we played poorly last night. Winnipeg played great and we were too tight. We had points where we were tight and then there were points where we didn't have the energy or enthusiasm. It is an enigma. Part of the problem is we didn't have Casey (Knight, 5th year, outside hitter, Salt Spring Island, BC) for an extended period. We didn't have Brad (Gunter). Randy (Grundmann, 2nd year, outside hitter, Winnipeg, MB) was sick this week and was a game time decision. He missed a week of practice. We had to throw out a different line up Friday than we did the week previous. We have the depth to do it. We just need to find ourselves on the court."
Hennelly on playing in Manitoba next week: "We are playing a quality team in Manitoba. They have a couple of good young guys too. They remind me of our team a couple of years ago. They have some explosive players."