T-Birds outlasted by Wolfpack to open weekend road series

KAMLOOPS – With just one win on the season and trailing the perennial powerhouse UBC Thunderbirds by four points in the fourth set, it would have been easy for the Thompson Rivers WolfPack women’s volleyball team to fold their tents and let the visiting Thunderbirds roll to victory.

A young and resilient WolfPack squad refused to let that happen however, and stormed their way back for the 3-2 (25-20, 21-25, 17-25, 25-21, 15-11) victory inside the TRU Gym on what was senior night for graduating players Katie Ludvig and Anastasiia Muzyka.

“It’s obviously been a tough year results-wise and this is extra special for our seniors to go out with a really good experience,” said WolfPack head coach Chad Grimm. “It was good on the team to take that upon themselves to grind it out.”

The WolfPack received contributions from throughout their entire lineup and took advantage of a faltering UBC squad in the fourth and fifth sets to come up big in clutch time for the victory.

Rookie Brooklyn Olfert led the way for TRU with 13 kills and 13 digs. Seray Altay added nine kills with Kate Lamothe and Haryley McNaught chipping in with seven apiece. In what was her penultimate game in a WolfPack jersey Ludvig recorded a game-high 14 digs. Rookie Faith Christensen had one of her best games as a member of the ‘Pack with two solo blocks and four block assists while Hadley Schmidt had 31 assists.

UBC was led in attack by Cara Kovacs with 14 kills and Elise Petit with 11. Kayla Oxland racked up 39 assists while Claire Cossarini and Danielle Price both had four assisted blocks.

Buoyed by strong support from the home crowd the WolfPack came out swinging and played some of the best volleyball of their season to take the first set 25-20. Kovacs had seven kills in the set for UBC but the ‘Pack defence held the visitors to hitting just .111% as a team to take the frame.

UBC rebounded in a big way in the middle sets. UBC took the second at 25-21, jumping out to a 24-16 lead thanks in large part to four kills from Erika Vermette. Siobhan Toal led a WolfPack run from the service line that saw TRU fight off five consecutive set points before UBC took the set.

The third was all UBC as they hit .280% as a team and racked up five blocks and a pair of service aces in the frame to take a commanding 2-1 set advantage after Price finished off the set with a big swing. Petit finished the frame with three kills while Price and Kovacs added a pair apiece.

The Thunderbirds kept that momentum rolling to a 4-0 advantage in the fourth set and appeared to be on their way to victory before a pivotal timeout from Grimm.

“We looked flat early in the fourth set,” said Grimm. “I took a timeout and just said, ‘we can’t do this, I know it’s the end of the year and we’re young but we can play better volleyball than that. We can’t go out this way.’ To their credit they were able to turn it around, it was definitely a good experience for our team.”

With rookies Schmidt and Olfert starring at the service line, the WolfPack were able to roar back and take a 7-5 lead of their own.

“There was a couple points where we lost the feel of the game but our main focus was to go out and do our jobs,” said Ludvig. “We knew that we could do better and I think we just wanted to have fun and bring back the energy that we started the game with.”

The teams traded points all the way to 18-18 before another rookie, Sasha Haldane, stepped up to the service line and went on a tear for TRU. An ace from Haldane and two kills from Altay highlighted a 5-0 WolfPack run that saw them jump out to the lead that they wouldn’t surrender en route to the 25-21 victory that forced a fifth and final set.

“They are so incredible,” said Ludvig of her rookie teammates. “I think back to my first year and I didn’t have near as much composure as they do. The way they can get us critical points at important moments is absolutely incredible and I’m so proud of them for being able to do that.”

A tight fifth set was won by the WolfPack late. With the teams tied at 9-9 Schmidt went on a service run of four-straight points featuring two kills from Altay and one each from McNaught and Olfert as the WolfPack jumped out to a 14-9 lead before eventually taking it 15-11.

“It felt like I was in a movie honestly,” said Ludvig of the comeback. “I couldn’t have dreamt a better senior night. Regardless of if we won or lost, we just felt so connected out there and I just couldn’t have asked for more.”

These teams will wrap up their 2021-22 regular season schedules tomorrow inside the TRU Gym at 3:45 p.m. For the WolfPack it will be the final game of their season while the Thunderbirds will continue to fight for playoff seeding.