For the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's volleyball team, the turning of the calendar from October to November has brought with it, good fortune.

The WolfPack have won their first match of the 2014-15 Canada West season.  Playing before their home fans at the Tournament Capital Centre on Saturday (Nov 1), the 'Pack downed the visiting University of Regina Cougars 4-1.

The scores were 26-24.25-20.27=29.28-26. The WolfPack are now 1-7 on the year while Regina falls to 1-5.

TRU coach Pat Hennelly says this match was quite a departure from Friday's straight set loss to the Cougars. That was a match Hennelly described as the worst in school history since they joined CIS.

"There was certainly a lot more focus," said Hennelly. "I have to give Regina credit. There were a couple of sets where we were well in the lead and they kept scrapping back.  I liked the fight we had as we came back from a bit of a deficit ourselves.  I thought we were lucky down the stretch."

Hennelly tinkered with his line up from Friday. He inserted Tyler Pomietlarz (1^st year, setter, Kelowna, BC).   In his first Canada West start, Pomietlarz contributed 39 assists, eight digs and two block assists. He was named the TRU Bookstore/McDonalds "Leader of the Pack" player of the match.

"Tyler has been working hard in the gym, " Hennelly stated. "He has improved in his setting, serving, defense and blocking. It has been tough for him to get into the lineup because Denham O'Reilly (first year, setter, Langley, BC) has been doing such a great job coming in as a serving sub.  I felt it was Tyler's time. He certainly used that opportunity. He looked solid throughout the match."

The WolfPack were led by Randy Grundmann (2^nd year, outside hitter, Winnipeg, MB). He had 21 kills in 38 chances with two assists, eight digs and three block assists.

"Randy had a great match," the TRU coach stated. " He had 18 after 20 points. He kept getting big kill after big kill for us. He had lots of conviction and lots of power. It was nice to see Randy have a pop back night hitting .421."

Regina was led by Andre Borgeaud (4^th year, outside hitter, Brisbane, Australia) with 17 kills in 42 chances. He added two service aces, seven digs and two block assists.

Matthew Lueck (4^th year, outside hitter, Regina, SK) had 13 kills in 26 swings with seven digs and two block assists. Dalton Wolfe (1^st year, setter, Moose Jaw, SK) had 35 assists.

Hennelly felt the victory relieved a lot of pressure on his club. "We have had three five set defeats. It has obviously been a physical drain. We have continued to go two a days. Robert Petry is our trainer and has done a great job with the guys. We still go twice a week in the gym similar to what Team Canada does during the World League and into the World Championships. It is an emotional drain coming off three five set losses.  No discredit to any of the teams we have played but I think we let a couple of those matches slip by.  We let nerves get the best of us.  That multiplies.  Happy to get the win of course. We are in a tough league. Any time you take it for granted, it will cost you.  As our team gets healthier—we have more than 14 guys at practice.  Lots of positives coming down the stretch."

Hennelly looks back at his ten years at the helm of this squad and can compare this start to only one other time: in 2009.  "It was Gord Perrin's second season. We had a pretty good squad but we had our ups and downs.  I believe that if you can push through adversity it will make you stronger.  If we were sitting at 4-2 going into this weekend, this match might not have meant as much and we wouldn't have had to dig as deep.  It is always good to see the character of the guys come through and good to see which guys perform in these opportunities."

He pointed to Jordan Foot (2^nd year, middle, Prince George, BC)  coming to become the third sophomore on the court along with Grundmann and Pomietlarz.   "They seemed to have a good connection and it was good to see."

The WolfPack will head to Brandon for matches next weekend (Nov 7-8) while the Cougars will entertain Mount Royal.

Next home activity for Thompson Rivers will be the weekend of November 14 th and 15 th when the University of Winnipeg Wesmen pay a visit to the Tournament Capital Centre. Those matches will be seen on Canada West television.

SIDE OUTS: Before the match, injured WolfPack outside hitter Brad Gunter (4^th year, Courtenay, BC) was awarded the Ray Lepp Scholarship by Jackie Toews of Volleyball BC.  Gunter-the CIS Player of the Year for 2013-14 is the second WolfPack player to win the honor. The first was Gord Perrin, who is now a member of Canada's Senior Men's National team and plays professionally in Turkey.

The WolfPack players also signed autographs during the women's match as part of hosting their annual Elementary tournament.  South Sa-hali won the girls title with Barriere taking the boys.