WOLFPACK READY FOR TRIP TO BRANDON
It's not the most romantic trip in the world, but the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack are hoping their Valentines Day sojourn to Brandon Manitoba will result in victories rather than hearts and flowers.
“I think we are as ready as we are going to be,” said WolfPack Head Coach Pat Hennelly as his squad enters this weekends CIS Mens Volleyball playoff round with the Bobcats. “We match up pretty well, they’ve got a scrappy team. When they beat Winnipeg in two straight they showed they belong in the playoffs. We are really going to have to get in there and beat them."
The Bobcats feature the top player in the Canada West in Kills. Australian Paul Sanderson had 301 in 60 sets for a set average of 5.02. Brandon also features the top blocker (Joel Small) and top Assist getter (Andrew Korol) in the league.
“We’ve been playing well the last two weekends” says Bobcat coach Russ Paddock, who’s directed the program for the last 3 years. “Sanderson has found a good form.”
“Physically: Robin Schoebel and Sanderson really went at it the first time we met,” Hennelly said referring to the teams split of their matches in the regular season. “Robin got some big blocks the first night (29 kills), but Sanderson came back with a strong match the second night”.
Going onto assess the Bobcats, Hennelly said “They have a big middle and a smaller middle so we match up pretty well there. The rest of their roster and ours are pretty similar.”
Paddock admits that a key to Brandon winning would be containment of Schoebel, who was third in the Canada West in kills with 292 in 74 sets.
The WolfPack have been practicing the last few days in their old gym. It’s very similar to what they’ll face in Brandon.
“It won’t be a disadvantage playing there,” Hennelly believes . “Both teams will hit the ball to the roof. It’s not that we’ll be off our game. We practice here (the TRU Gym) 50 per cent of the time anyway."
Hennelly and company would have liked to have had home court advantage for the first time in their young CIS post season career. But they are taking it all in stride.
“The pressure might be off of us a bit. Brandon is hosting for the first time ever and they have to deal with issues like finding hotels for friends and family and dealing with the media.”
The WolfPack will have to endure a 12 hour trip to Manitoba to play though.
“We have won on the road before. We did it last year in Winnipeg,” Hennelly says remembering back to 2007. “We just have to build on that for this weekend.”
Although they are away from the friendly confines of the Tournament Capital Center, TRU won’t be totally alone. First year middle Stefan Savoie is a native of Winnipeg and plans to have at least 20 friends and family in attendance for the matches.
The matches are set for 7 pm (CDT) both Friday and Saturday (Feb 15 and 16). If a third match is necessary, it would go at 3 pm (CDT) on Sunday. The winner not only gets a berth in the Canada West final four the following weekend in Edmonton, Alberta, but also a spot in the Nationals to be held in Laval Quebec February 29-March 2nd.