KAMLOOPS – After a tight first set the UBC Thunderbirds dominated the rest of the way to pick up a 3-0 (28-26, 25-17, 25-17) victory over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack men’s volleyball team.
Playing in front of a raucous crowd inside the TRU Gymnasium, the WolfPack celebrated the careers of soon-to-be graduated players Anton Napolitano and Kyle Taylor after the match. Both Napolitano and Taylor spent six years with the program and find their names littered throughout the program record books.
“Their first year with us they ended up coming in last, but those guys were among the key pieces that turned things around and three years later we were in Alberta sweeping the Golden Bears in the playoffs,” said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly. “During COVID I had some family issues and couldn’t be at practice as much as I wanted to be and those guys took over and really showed some great leadership. They have both already graduated with their undergraduate degrees but they both wanted to come back for one more year and help start the next rebuild.”
“They mean so much to the program that it’s hard to describe.”
The visiting Thunderbirds dominated the boxscore in the match. UBC outhit TRU .311% – .075% and racked up eight blocks to the WolfPack’s two.
Michael Dowhaniuk was an absolute force for UBC. One of the lead leaders in aces-per-set added another two service aces to his impressive mark while also hitting nearly .500% from the floor with 12 kills on 23 attacks. Cole Brandsma went an impressive 11-17 while Mason Greves tallied 32 assists.
A back-and-forth first set just barely went the way of the Thunderbirds.
A Zarley Zalusky service aces to make it 15-10 in favour of the visitors appeared to put the Thunderbirds on the path to victory. The WolfPack responded with a 6-2 run however and a big block from Michael Svab forced a UBC timeout with the lead down to 17-16. The teams traded points until Napolitano knotted the set up at 21-21 with service ace number 104 of his WolfPack career. TRU had set points at 24-23, 25-24 and 26-25 but the Thunderbirds were able to fight them all off and the visitors took the first set at 28-26 thanks in large part to a pair of tough serves from Dowhaniuk.
What was a close second set at the technical timeout was blown wide open by the Thunderbirds late.
After the teams entered the break with UBC leading 16-13, the visitors would score nine of the next 13 points to take the third set 25-17. Dowhaniuk went 7-11 on his attacks in the frame.
The third set followed much the same script, with things looking tight at first before UBC pulled away. The visitors hit .375% as a team in the frame while holding the WolfPack to just four kills as UBC racked up six blocks in the set led by two from Cole Brandsma.
For the WolfPack the night was about more than the result on the floor however, as they got the chance to pay tribute to a pair of influential figures in the program’s storied history.
“I can’t really sum it up,” said Napolitano. “Six years is a long time but it goes so quickly. It means the world to me, this program changed the direction of my life and all I can say is thanks to coach Pat Hennelly.”
These two teams will close out their regular season scheduled tomorrow inside the TRU Gymnasium. With both teams locked into their playoff spots, they will be looking to build momentum prior to beginning of the postseason next weekend. That match will get underway at 2 p.m. and can be watched live on canadawest.tv.
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