One more win, and the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack will hit kill shots at nationals.
The WolfPack men's volleyball team -- which features Prince George products Colin Carson, Spencer Reed, Jordan Foot and Nic Balazs -- will face the University of Alberta Golden Bears Friday night in Langley. The winner will advance to the Canada West championship match and will be guaranteed a spot in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national tournament, Feb. 27 to March 1 in Calgary.
The Kamloops-based WolfPack hasn't been to nationals since 2009-10, when Carson and Reed were in their first years on the active roster and Balazs and Foot were playing high school volleyball at D.P. Todd.
In fact, heading into this season, TRU hadn't even made the Canada West playoffs in two years. So, with such a huge opportunity in front of them, the WolfPack players -- especially the graduating ones like Carson, Reed and middle blocker Jacob Tricarico -- are focused on taking the shine off the Golden Bears.
"You look at someone like myself and Spencer Reed and Jacob Tricarico, this is our last season so if we don't win this weekend we're done our careers," said Carson, a setter who finished with a nation-high 929 assists this season. "So the motivation is there for the three of us and then nobody else has been this far in a playoff run, other than [fourth-year libero] Matt Krueger, so I think everyone else is just really excited to be here and then really excited to get to the next step also."
The WolfPack finished the regular season in fourth place with a 13-9 record, one spot behind the Golden Bears (15-7). In head-to-head play, each team won once. Friday's winner will face either the powerhouse Trinity Western University Spartans (20-2) or the upstart Brandon University Bobcats (10-12) in the Canada West final on Saturday.
National berths will go to both finalists. Nationals will be an eight-team tournament, including the host University of Calgary Dinos.
Carson likes the WolfPack's chances against the Golden Bears. However, he said the team will have to be at its best to get the victory.
"We split with them in the regular season so I think that shows this match on Friday could go either way," Carson said.
"I think the key for us is serving," he added. "When our serving is on, we're a tough team to stop."
TRU advanced to the Canada West Final Four by beating the University of Saskatchewan Huskies 2-1 in a best-of-three quarterfinal series that wrapped up this past Saturday in Kamloops. The deciding match went an epic five sets but the WolfPack prevailed 22-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-18, 22-20.
"It was probably the craziest game I've ever been a part of," said Carson, a 2009 graduate of Duchess Park secondary. "There was a lot of emotion. It was a pretty good game from us and just a really good match. We missed a lot of serves early in that match and then we settled down and were able to get some more consistent, tough serves in and I think that turned the tide for us a little bit."
Reed plays libero for the WolfPack, while Foot is a middle blocker/outside hitter. Balazs is a middle blocker but has been sidelined for most of the season because of knee and hip problems.
Carson is content with the way his own season has gone. In the national assists standings, he's also No. 1 in average assists per set at 10.93. But, for him to be truly satisfied, TRU has to keep winning.
"The bottom line is, if our team's successful I'm happy and if our team's not successful then it doesn't really matter what my stats look like," he said. "At the same time, it is kind of a nice way to end a career, having a nice season like that."
