KAMLOOPS – While their chance to advance in the Canada West playoffs may have been gone, the Thompson Rivers WolfPack men’s volleyball team looked like anything but a team ready for their season to be over as they put together a 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-23, 28-26) victory over the Mount Royal Cougars on Saturday night.
With both the Cougars and WolfPack entering the game with records of 0-2, it was impossible for either team to leapfrog the Brandon Bobcats (2-0) and Trinity Western Spartans (2-0) to advance out of their four-team pool.
Still, with pride on the line and both teams eager to end their season with a bang the two teams combined for an explosive match that saw the WolfPack take the spoils.
“I think we were tight yesterday (vs. Brandon),” TRU head coach Pat Hennelly said afterward, reflecting on the growth his squad showed in their season finale. “We’re a young group, and it’s playoffs – Brandon was a lot more intense in coming after us. I said, ‘That’s a lesson to be learned, guys – you’ve got to come out and push in this league or you’re going to get steamrolled.’
“That was the message, and obviously we were a little more relaxed because there’s nothing on the line. But you’re playing for pride, and I think it’s important. These guys really represented the jersey tonight, and I’m proud of the effort.”
Multiple members of the WolfPack set new career-best marks in the game.
Making his first career start, rookie Rylan Ibbetson – who had just five kills all season – exploded for 15 on the night while also leading the team by hitting .565 per cent.
“It felt great but this is all due to my teammates, they were supporting me the whole way and that really brought me up and made me keep going,” said Ibbetson who also added a game-high 18 digs in the match. “Even if I shanked a pass they were there have my back so I just want to say thank you to my teammates.’
“Our mentality today was that this is an odd year, and you never really get to end on a win unless you win the national championship, but today we had that chance and also the chance to have our fifth years end their careers with a win.”
Also setting new career marks were Sam Flowerday with a game-high 20 kills and Thundersky Walkingbear who eclipsed his previous high of eight kills with a whopping 18 on the night. Setter Samuel Elgert more than doubled his previous season-best tonight with 49 assists. Defensively, rookie Riley Brinnen had two solo blocks and a block assist for the WolfPack with Corbin Ockerman adding a further four block assists.
The Cougars built a five-point lead midway through the first set, and while the WolfPack were able to battle back and equalize 17-17, MRU pulled away once again thanks to a pair of crucial kills from Jacob van Geel to take it 25-23.
In the second a trio of kills in quick succession from Walkingbear put TRU up 17-12, and they would maintain the lead the rest of the way to take it 25-20.
Ibbetson took over down the stretch of the third – with his team clinging to a 21-20 lead, he blasted a trio of kills to put TRU up 24-21, and they would hang on for a 25-23 win.
The Cougars appeared poised to send it to a fifth set, building a five-point margin (18-13) in the fourth. But the WolfPack fought all the way back, fending off an MRU set point with a Flowerday kill and going on to close out the match 28-26 with Maxim Turgeon and Walkingbear picking up clutch kills in the late going.
After the match Hennelly continued to praise the play of Ibbetson.
“He’s come into a lot of games for us as a serving sub, but that’s his first time in a full match, so absolutely incredible for his first time on the floor,” Hennelly enthused. “He’s a first-year guy, a true freshman who’s been working hard in the gym. These are opportunities to let young guys get out there and cut their teeth, so I was super-impressed with that. He held his ground passing, and he went on some nice serving runs.”
The result brings an end to the season for the WolfPack who qualified for the postseason with a roster that featured a lot of turnover from the 2019-20 season. The win against MRU will officially go down in the record books as the team’s first postseason victory since the 2013-14 season.
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