WOLFPACK WIN OPENER OF MCDONALDS INTERNATIONAL INVITIATIONAL
For immediate release: January 2, 2009
Kamloops-The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack kicked off 2009 in fine fashion. The WolfPack downed the #3 ranked team in the NCAA, the Pepperdine University Wave in four sets to open the McDonalds Invitiational International Men’s volleyball Tournament. The scores were 25-18,25-19,20-25,26-24.
“It was a great win, “ said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly. “But we needed more of a killer instinct. It plagued us again when we didn’t take it to them. We could have ended it in the third set. Quite frankly, we got lucky in the fourth set. Gord Perrin (2nd year, outside hitter, Creston, BC) came up with some big plays for us. Pepperdine deserved to win that set”.
In the decisive fourth, Pepperdine was up by as many as four points before the ‘Pack rallied at 24-21 to tie it up. TRU scored the final six points to win the set and the match.
Hennelly felt his team sat back in the third set when Pepperdine switched their strategy, moving the ball away from some of their outside hitters. “ Because they (Pepperdine) took out one of their big hitters we seemed to relax. Our guys sat back—we needed to attack like we did in the first set. Any good team which practices a lot will make you pay for it. That has a symptom of some of our losses this year.”
Perrin, named the Mcdonalds Man of the Match, led TRU with 18 kills in 43 attempts. Robin Schoebel (3rd year, outside hitter, Monaco) led the WolfPack with 19 kills.
“I thought we started a bit slow,” said Pepperdine head coach Marv Dunphy. “Part of that was that Thompson Rivers playing well right from the get go. They started well and ended well. They have some good arms and got some big kills at the right time.”
Dunphy dismissed any thoughts that they were tired after winning a tournament in Saskatoon earlier this week. “ You either good enough or you are not. And tonite we weren’t. We had some chances in game four early to score a few times and we didn’t. It caught up with us and they made some good plays”.
The Wave now face an almost ‘must win’ in their next match Saturday (Jan 3) against Budo International of Japan. The winner will most likely move to Sunday’s gold medal match. TRU will go for a second straight victory when they meet the University of Sherbrooke in their next match (Saturday at noon).
Pepperdine was led by Paul Carroll. The Austrailian born All-American had 16 kills. Brent Schirripca (Junior, Outside hitter, Los Angeles, Calif) was named his teams “Man of the Match” with six kills and some key blocks.
Earlier in the tournament: Budo beat Sherbrooke for the second time this week. The Japanese won in three straight sets. The scores were 25-17,25-20,25-12. In Saskatoon, the Japanese beat the Vert et Or in four sets. “ We didn’t serve very well,” stated Budo coach Fumitoshi Tokunaga. Player of the Match Mastoshi Yoshida (outside hitter) had 16 kills. Shoei Uchiyama and Yuksuke Nakamura each had 10 digs for Budo. Sherbrooke was led by Samueul Girard (2nd year, Alma Quebec) with 6 kills and 6 digs. Player of the Match Hugo St-Pierre Hould (1st year, setter, Sept-Iles, Que) had 13 assists.
There are four matches to be played on Saturday. At 10 am: its Pepperdine vs Budo. TRU against Sherbrooke at Noon. Both those matches at the TRU Gym. Play returns to the Tournament Capital Center in the evening. Pepperdine takes on Sherbrooke at 6 pm with Budo facing TRU at 8 pm. The bronze medal game is Sunday Jan 4 th at 3 pm at the TRU Gym. The Gold Medal final is set for 5 pm at the T.C.C.