WolfPack swept by Spartans to start postseason

KAMLOOPS – The Thompson Rivers WolfPack men’s volleyball team was unable to keep pace with the No. 1 nationally-ranked Trinity Western Spartans in a 3-0 (25-15, 25-17, 25-11) loss on Thursday night in Langley.

The game was the first of the 2021-22 postseason for both clubs. Playing in a pool of four teams with the top two advancing, the Spartans took a commanding grip on top spot in the pool while the WolfPack will have to hope for better results in games to come with the Brandon Bobcats and Mount Royal Cougars.

Trinity Western dominated the boxscore, outhitting TRU .566% – .061% while also racking up 15 service aces to the ‘Pack’s one and adding seven blocks in the game.

Samuel Elgert led the WolfPack with four kills while Thundersky Walkingbear and Sam Flowerday added three each. Anton Napolitano had 13 assists while Kyle Taylor led the defensive efforts with five digs.

Brodie Hofer, who finished second in the conference in the regular season in kills-per-set, had a game-high 10 finishes for the Spartans. Jackson Howe went a perfect 6-6 on his swings with Jesse Elser and Jordan Schnitzer both adding six kills. Hofer racked up an astonishing seven aces while Schnitzer had one solo block and four block assists.

The Spartans dominated the latter portions of all three sets. A relatively tight 13-10 Spartan lead in the first set was blown wide open after the technical timeout thanks to a pair of long serving runs from Schnitzer and Elser with the hosts taking it 25-15.

TRU hung around in the second set and led early thanks to a pair of Walkingbear kills. The Spartans went on a 4-0 run to overturn the WolfPack advantage and take a lead that grew to five at the technical timeout. Another 4-0 run coming out of the timeout allowed the Spartans to run away with the 25-17 victory.

A third set that was all Trinity Western put the game away with the hosts rolling to a 25-11 victory.

Next up for the WolfPack is a crucial match with the Brandon Bobcats tomorrow night in Abbotsford, B.C. at 8:00 p.m. TRU will be fighting to keep their hopes of advancing to the Canada West Quarter-finals alive and the action can be watched live on canadawest.tv.

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