The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s volleyball season has hit a groove of major proportions.
The WolfPack have entered the Canada West Christmas break winners of five of their last six matches. This weekend (Nov 29-30), Thompson Rivers went into Calgary and swept the Mount Royal University Cougars in back to back 3-0 decisions.
The scores on Saturday (Nov 30) were 25-22,25-23,26-24. TRU enters the break with a record of eight wins and four defeats. Mount Royal has fallen to six and six.
WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly (Andrew Snucins photo)
“We have a great feeling out there on the court,” said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly. “The guys just want to keep on playing. We have won some close matches of late and I think the confidence we have picked up over the last few weeks will help us in the stretch run. As much as we would like to play some more matches, we have worked very hard in the off season and in the pre-season and we are very tired.”
Brad Gunter (Andrew Snucins photo)
The WolfPack again got a solid performance from Brad Gunter (3rd year, outside hitter, Courtenay, BC). The Junior National Team member had a team high 16 kills in 36 swings with nine digs and a block assist.
Casey Knight (Allen Douglas photo)
“Brad has been solid every match this term,”said Hennelly. Casey (Knight, 4th year, outside hitter, Salt Spring Island, BC) had another solid night as well.”
Knight wound up with 13 kills in 23 chances with three service aces, three digs and a solo block.
Colin Carson (Andrew Snucins photo)
When asked what the difference in the series this weekend was, Hennelly was point to two of his veterans. “Colin Carson has been the difference the last six weekends,” he said about his fifth year setter from Prince George, BC. “ He makes the other players look good when he distributes the ball the way he has. He is the main reason why we are among the Canada West and CIS leaders in assists and hitting percent.”
Carson had 37 assists in this match to go along with five digs. He had 67 assists over six sets the entire weekend.
Jacob Tricarico (Andrew Snucins photo)
The other player garnering praise was middle Jacob Tricarico (5th year, Huntington Beach, CA). “ Jake did a great job. He had consistent serves, made some key blocks and played smart volleyball.” He had four kills in eight changes with four digs, one solo block and two block assists.
When asked about whether or not the team has what it takes to make it into the Canada West playoffs for the first time in three years, Hennelly said: “Eight wins could be enough but one never knows in a league as strong as Canada West. I said at the beginning of the season that if we could be .500 by Christmas we would be sitting in pretty good shape. I think we have distanced ourselves from Mount Royal, UBCO and Saskatchewan in the past few weeks.”
The WolfPack will head to Hawaii after Christmas for some exhibition matches. Their first Canada West match in 2014 will come up Friday January 10 th when they host the Brandon Bobcats at the TRU Gym. Game time is 7:45 pm.