Resilient ‘Pack reverse sweep Golden Bears

EDMONTON – Sam Flowerday had a game-high 19 kills to help the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in a 3-2 (19-25, 14-25, 25-22, 25-19, 15-11) reverse-sweep upset thriller Saturday night at the Saville Centre.

“Big comeback win for the boys,” said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly. “Down 2-0 we made some changes putting Archie Golding in at opposite and moving Flowerday over to right-side.”

The win saw TRU knock off a Golden Bears squad that are the reigning CW Champions and entered the season ranked first in the coaches preseason poll.

Flowerday was aided in the great win by setter Sam Elgert, who had a game-high 46 assists and played an incredible game as the quarterback of the offence. Rylan Ibbetson added 12 kills, while Corbin Ockerman, Riley Brinnen and Archie Golding all finished with a pair of blocks.

“Sam Flowerday once again was the offensive leader for us,” said Hennelly. “Sam Elgert had a great match running the offence with control and confidence.”

It was a story of two halves, as the Bears went up 2-0 in sets as their offence cruised early, but the ‘Pack would settle in and stifle the hosts while warming up their offence to a great level.

After the Golden Bears took the first two sets the WolfPack dug their heels in for the third.

“We really stabilized passing and defensively with Rylan and Dylan leading the way,” said Hennelly. “Was a solid team performance and credit to the guys for not giving up after being down early.”

There were six tie scores, but the ‘Pack led or tied the whole way thanks to four kills from Flowerday and forced a fourth set after winning 25-22.

The fourth set was paced by the TRU duo of Flowerday and Ibbetson who recorded 12 kills between the two of them. The ‘Pack would have their largest win of the night at 25-19 to send the game to an ultimate fifth set. With the set hanging in the balance late Ibbetson came up with a huge kill at 23-18 to give TRU the cushion they needed.

In the final set of the night, the ‘Pack offence was simply too potent for the Bears to handle. They would hit to the tune of a .462 attacking percentage, which was miles better than the .048 they held the Bears to. They won the set and match 15-11, with Ibbetson recording a set-high two kills.
 
TRU came up clutch time and time again in the set, whether it was a massive dig by VanSpankeren, a clutch kill from Flowerday or a block courtesy of Golding and Ockerman, the whole team rallied for the victory.

The ‘Pack will look to keep this momentum rolling when they host the Calgary Dinos inside the TCC next weekend for their first home games of the season.