The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack womens volleyball team appears to want to maximize their time on the court.

For the sixth time in the 2014-15 Canada West season, the WolfPack went the full five sets in match. And for the fourth time, they emerged victorious.   Thompson Rivers downed the visiting University of Winnipeg Wesmen 3-2 Saturday night (Nov 15) at the Tournament Capital Centre.

The scores were 25-20,25-19,24-26,20-25,15-11.   It was the second straight night both teams went the distance and both clubs end the weekend the way they began: at .500.  Thompson Rivers goes to 6 and 6 on the year while Winnipeg moves to 5 and 5.

"This was a carbon copy of Friday," said WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm. "We just reversed roles.  Winnipeg won the first two last night and we battled back to force it to five. Tonight, it was their turn. It was nice to be on the other side."

Grimm can't put his finger on why his team has went the distance to pull out the victory.  Finishing a match is tough in this league.  It takes some experience. We came out well in the first. In the second, we started well but they started to chip away at our lead.  We won fairly comfortably but they seemed to gain momentum at the end of that set.  We let them drift it over to the third and fourth set as well. We have to take from these lessons that when you have the chance, you have to put the hammer down."

Winnipeg has also played its share of five setters.  Saturday's defeat was the second for them this season.

"We have played a lot of them this year," said Wesman coach Diane Scott. " When you played the way we did in the first two sets tonight, you are lucky to go five sets. Last night, we didn't want to. We got a little bit better tonight as the match went on. We were fortunate to go to the fifth set."

Scott added  " I thought they (TRU) did a better job with our middles tonight. We made too many service errors in bunches. Any team that does that hinders their opportunities.  When you are making a lot of mental errors, it makes it tough."

The WolfPack were again led by Iuliia Pakhomenko (3^rd year, outside hitter, Donetsk, Ukraine). She had 24 kills in 55 chances with four assists, a service ace, 13 digs and two block assists.

Alyssa Wolf (4^th year, outside hitter, South Surrey, BC) had 12 kills in 37 opportunities with three service aces, 15 digs and a block assist.

Kara Twomey (3^rd year, setter, Winnipeg, MB) had 51 assists while Katarina Legutky (3^rd year, outside hitter, Calgary, AB) had nine kills in 32 chances and 15 digs.

Carly Gunter (1^st year, outside hitter, Courtenay, BC) was named the TRU Bookstore/McDonalds "Leader of the Pack" Player of the match.  "As a first year player she hasn't seen much floor time," Grimm stated. " She brought us some stability. She didn't do anything spectacular but she got her serve in and a couple of digs. She was talking and directing traffic in in the back row. For a first year player, she brought a calming stability to the group when we were up and down.

Winnipeg was led by Hailey Buhler, (3^rd year, right side,Winnipeg, MB) with 13 kills in 34 chances. She had a service ace and four digs.

Elllina Domnidou (4^th year, right side, Athens, Greece) had 34 assists, a service ace and nine digs.  Sonia Rossy (3^rd year, left side, Winnipeg, MB) had 28 digs.

 The WolfPack will hit the road next weekend for Manitoba where they will play the Bisons (Nov 21-22). They return home for the final weekend before the Christmas break (Nov 28-29) as the host the Alberta Pandas.  Game time on November 28 th will be 6 pm.

SIDE OUTS:  Grimm on being .500 at this point of the year: "I try not to get too far ahead. People ask me where I thought we would be in the first half.  I think it is fair for how we played.  We have had some good nights and some not so good nights. We are still looking for some stability from match to match. It is starting to come though."

Scott is also pleased to be .500. "In all honestly yes.  We lost our two starting outside hitters with ACL injuries and our libero is hitting on the left side.  When we had to make a lot of adaptations and deal with some adversity, you have to be pleased.  I was happy with our play last night. I can't say I was pleased with the tempo of our game in the first two and a half sets tonight. But we gutted it out and found our way again. If we can keep doing that, it's a big deal. "

The South Kamloops Titans won the WolfPack Grade 8 girls tournament, which was held earlier in the day. They downed the Westsyde Whundas in the final.