WOLFPACK LOSE TO TIGERS TO FINISH 6 TH AT CIS NATIONALS
For Immediate Release: March 1, 2009
Edmonton, Alta--The 2008-09 season for the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack will be best known for it's peaks and valleys. So it was somewhat poetic justice that their final match of the year had its large ebbs and flows. The WolfPack wound up sixth at the 2009 CIS National Championships after falling in five sets to the Dalhousie Tigers of Nova Scotia. The scores were 25-23,25-15,19-25,18-25,15-12.
The WolfPack started a young line up--including second year's Gord Perrin (outside hitter, Creston, BC) and Stefan Savoie (middle,Winnipeg, MB) and rookies Josh Boruck (outside hitter, Revelstoke, BC) and Conor Eatch (middle, Aurora, Ont). TRU jumped out to a 4-0 run right off the bat and were up 15-12. But Dalhousie rallied and scored five of the last six points en route to the victory.
"I admit that maybe I made too many changes," explained WolfPack Head Coach Pat Hennelly. "that might have been one of the reasons why we wound up losing. But we really didn't get a flow going and made some bad plays in that fifth and final set."
The AUS Champs gained momentum from that first set victory and quickly rolled to an 8-2 lead by the first technical timeout of the second set. "We didn't play well at all in the second set," admitted 5 th year outside hitter Andy Haley (Stony Plain, Alta), who was playing his final CIS match before friends and family. Haley wound up with three kills and five errors in 15 attempts.
The WolfPack rebounded and took the next two sets forcing a fifth and deciding set--not unlike 2008 where the two teams met in the bronze medal match.
The Tigers scored four of the fifth sets first six points before TRU called a time out. It didn't seem to work as Dalhousie scored the next three points. After a combined block by Eatch and Robin Schoebel (3rd year, outside hitter, Monaco) notted the score at six and Martin Stenderup (2nd year, setter, Ribe, Denmark) dished out a service ace, the Tigers went on a run to eventually take a 12-10 lead.
With the score 13-11 for Dalhousie, Perrin's kill attempt on the right side of the net was thwarted by a Dalhousie combined block.
Hennelly looked at his insertion of Schoebel late in the fifth set as one of the factors in their defeat. "A big guy like Robin takes time to warm up, and apparently he didn't feel in the groove right away."
Dalhousie was led by Devon Parkinson (3rd year setter, Victoria, BC). He had 14 kills and eight digs. Erik Montgomery (4th year, middle, Kingston, Ont) had 11 kills. Russ Lawrence (4th year setter, Calgary, Alta) had 38 assists.
TRU was led by Josh Boruck. He had 15 kills in 29 opportunities. Perrin had 12 kills in 33 swings. Colin Jaggard (4th year, setter, Calgary, Alta) had 34 assists and a team high 5 service aces.
"It was a charactor win by our guys," stated Dalhousie coach Dan Ota. "I told Pat (Hennelly) that this is becoming a habit between our two schools. Maybe next year we can fight it out in the gold medal match.
SIDE OUTS: The Tigers out blocked TRU 14-9. The WolfPack had 10 service aces in compared to Dalhousie's 8. The Tigers had 22 service errors while TRU notched 18.
Haley on his last match. "I really wanted to be out with the guys and play. I really didn't think about it (his career) being over until it ended." When asked about the highlight of his career with TRU, he mentioned the two trips to the Nationals. It was the first time he went to an event of this magnitude in a team sport.
Hennelly on Haley: " He was a very dedicated player. Andy was consistently our fittest player. He'll be missed."
The coach of Canada's Junior National Team Chris Green was in attendance at the CIS Championships. Its hoped that Eatch, Perrin, Savoie and Boruck will be invited to his training camp later this year.
Kamloops and Thompson Rivers will host the CIS Championships next year at the Tournament Capital Center.