The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack fell short of qualifying for nationals. TRU's consolation prize was playoff bronze.
The WolfPack men's volleyball team, which is based in Kamloops and features Prince George players Colin Carson, Spencer Reed, Nic Balazs, Jordan Foot and Jared Mitchell, lost a semifinal match Friday night in Langley to the University of Alberta Golden Bears. U of A prevailed in straight sets, 25-17, 26-24, 25-17 and then upset the top-ranked Trinity Western University Spartans 25-20, 26-24, 26-24 the next night to claim the Canada West championship and move on to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national tournament, Thursday to Saturday in Calgary. By making it to the Canada West final, Trinity Western (20-2 in the regular season) also earned a spot in nationals.
While a win against Alberta would have given the WolfPack a national berth, TRU was able to put aside the disappointment of the loss and come out strong in the match for bronze on Saturday. In that one, the WolfPack defeated the Brandon University Bobcats 25-21, 23-25, 26-24, 25-23.
TRU head coach Pat Hennelly said his team "just couldn't get going" against the Golden Bears in the semifinal. During the regular season, each team had beaten the other once.
"Alberta is a veteran club and to their credit they made lots of noise," Hennelly said on TRU's website. "I thought if we were going to be successful we would have to have a better serving game than Alberta. But clearly, that wasn’t the case. In the second set, when the score was close, we were tight and looking around."
Carson, meanwhile, told The Citizen: "We just didn't play as well as we could have. Alberta is a very good team but we definitely could have given them a better run for their money."
Third-seeded Alberta went 15-7 in the regular season and fourth-ranked TRU finished at 13-9.
In Saturday's game against seventh-seeded Brandon (10-12), the WolfPack found itself down 10-3 in the fourth set but regained momentum and wrapped up the match.
"It was like we played all year," Hennelly said. "We battled back after bending. It was a learning curve. We were battling point-for-point and that is something I like to see."
The match was the final one in the university careers of Carson and Reed, though Reed, a libero, didn't actually play. Carson, a setter, pulled himself out of the contest after he scored a point in the first set. He made another brief appearance in the fourth.
"Colin wanted to leave on his own terms," Hennelly said. "He wanted to score a point and then be congratulated by his teammates. He recognized too that [third-year setter] Graham [Stoliker] had to see some time in a meaningful game."
Balazs is a third-year middle blocker and Foot is a rookie middle blocker and outside hitter. Mitchell is a libero but wasn't on the active roster this season.
