MENS VOLLEYBALL FINISHES SEASON WITH BACK TO BACK LOSSES
(Martin Stendeup (left) and Robin Schoebel (right) were top performers for TRU in this Match)
For Immediate Release: January 31, 2009
Calgary, Alta--Playing without two of their top players, the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack Men's Volleyball team lost for the second straight night at the Jack Simpson Gym in Calgary. The hometown Dinos, who locked up second place in the Canada West standings downed the WolfPack 3-0. It was the final regular season match for both squads. The scores were 25-22,25-14,25-23. The Dinos finish at 13 and 5. TRU will finish at 10 and 8.
"We struggled in the first two sets," said WolfPack Head Coach Pat Hennelly. " We did have lots of fight in the first set, but the Dinos had a better blocking scheme. Three balls that went down deflected off our players shoulders. They (Calgary) earned the victory."
TRU played without middle Martin Korsbak (3rd year, Nyborg, Denmark) and outside hitter Gord Perrin (2nd year, Creston, BC). Korsbak had some back problems and Perrin is recovering from an ankle strain. Hennelly wants both to be healthy for the Canada West Quarter finals in two weeks (Feb 13-14,15).
"I thought both Martin Stenderup (2nd year, setter, Ribe, Denmark) and Robin Schoebel (3rd year, outside hitter, Monaco) were solid," said Hennelly. "Robin played both left and right side. And Martin had two service aces and 15 assists."
Schoebel added 11 kills and five errors in 28 opportunities. Josh Boruck (1st year, outside hitter, Revelstoke, BC) had six kills in 11 opportunities. Behlul Yavasgel (outside hitter, 4 th year, Aydin, Turkey) had five digs.
Calgary was led by outside hitter Omar Langford (4th year, Toronto, Ontario). He had 19 kills on 30 attempts. Oleg Podporin (4th year, outside hitter, Almaty, Kazakhstan) had eight kills. Setter Ciaran McGovern (2nd year, Grande Prairie, Alta) had 35 serv assists. The Dinos had 20 digs led by Andrew Tallas with seven.
As for hosting their first ever playoff date, Hennelly had this to say. "I think with our 10 wins, we will have to get some help or hope for some sort of tie breaker. Right now, I would say we will be lucky to finish fourth with fifth place more of a possibility."