KAMLOOPS – The Thompson Rivers WolfPack women’s volleyball team earned a statement win on the road Saturday night, taking down the No. 9 ranked UBC Okanagan Heat by a score of 3-1 (25-22, 17-25, 25-17, 25-20) in Kelowna.
The win was the first over a team ranked in the U SPORTS Top 10 since the 2019-20 season for the ‘Pack, as they were able to complete the upset that they came close to earning last night.
“We performed as a unit and the stars of the game were the bench players who came in and changed the direction of the game when it was needed,” said WolfPack head coach Behlul Yavasgel, pointing to the strong play of Sasha Haldane, Madison Maichin, Hadley Schmidt and Libby Meldrum.
Brooklyn Olfert exploded in the game to lead all hitters with 18 kills while also adding a trio of aces. Ema Palkovicova added 16 kills of her own. In the first extended time on court of her U SPORTS career, middle Caitlin Larrigan was impressive for the ‘Pack with four blocks.
“She is a great student of the game who follows the tasks and instructions to the tee,” said Yavasgel of Larrigan. “Even though her numbers aren’t high, she did the things we asked her to do really well.”
Kendall Stephan led UBCO with 13 kills while Syndey Grills added 11.
TRU moves to 4-4 on the season with the victory and will now head back to Kamloops for a pair of games against the Saskatchewan Huskies inside the TCC next weekend.