News 55

Huskies bite WolfPack

By BART CUMMINS
Special to the Daily News
November 4 2006

It wasn't a terrible opening night, but it wasn't the best either.

The Thompson Rivers University WolfPack women's volleyball team entered its second season of Canadian Interuniversity Sport action with a four-set loss to the visiting University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday night at the TRU gym.

"It was disappointing, but I thought a lot of players did some very good things," said WolfPack head coach Carrie Barrett, whose charges were in every set and could have taken the opener had they not given up an 8-1 lead en route to a 25-23 loss.

The Huskies won the second set by the same score before TRU staved off a sweep in the third with a 25-21 victory. U of S put a lid on the night in the fourth, winning 25-22. The Huskies climbed to 1-2 and will look to get on even footing when the teams finish off their two-game series today at TRU gym (7:45 p.m.). TRU goes into tonight's action 0-1. WolfPack fifth-year middle Sandra-Joy Unaegbu was a sparkplug, frequently leaping into the air whenever she pocketed one of her 14 kills or helped the team win one of the numerous long rallies. "I've been waiting for this game - I was so excited for this game," said Unaegbu, who also finished with a pair of digs. "I don't think it was nervousness, but it was mental," she continued, pinpointing why TRU spoiled its opener. "Our mental game dropped for lapses at the wrong time."
	Murray Mitchell / Daily News
	DANIELA BERCELLI of the TRU WolfPack gets some air during CIS women's volleyball action against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Friday at TRU gym.
Having given up the lead in the opening set, TRu stayed within a point or two of its opponents until two unforced errors pushed the score to 20-15 for U of S. The WolfPack rebounded and again pulled to within a pint or two, but by then it was too late. That set the tone for the rest of the night, with the exception being the third set, in which TRU trailed 1-0 before jumping in front 2-1 and leading the rest of the way. In the fourth set, it appeared as if the Huskies smelled victory. They surged to an early 6-1 lead and went up 18-11 before TRU cut the gap in the final stages. But, again, the WolfPack had given up too much, too early. TRu finished with 60 kills, with Robyn Devlin earning 19, Unaegbu 14, and third-year outside Richelle Walton 10. Walton led with 18 digs and Devlin had 12. Arla Cornish and Danae Lockert each finished with 13 of U of S's 54 kills and Kerrie Wickenheiser, a distant cousin to women's hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser, had 12. Heidi Smith had 13 Huskies digs and Shannon Usher had 12 digs. Meanwhile, service errors killed any chance the WolfPack men's volleyball team had of having a happy opening night. TRU gave up 18 errors to six en route to a three-set loss (25-22, 25-15, 25-23) to the Huskies at TRU gym last night. The Huskies climb to 1-2 and the WolfPack drop to 0-1. The teams meet at TRU tonight (6 o'clock). Matt Harris had 14 of 39 WolfPack kills and Robin Schoebel had seven. Graham Allard had four of 18 TRU digs. For the Huskies, Mark Thibeault scooped seven digs and Gavin Little had 11 kills. TRU NOTES: The TRU WolfPack women's basketball team fell to 0-3 in the Canada West regular season with a 98-49 loss to the Alberta Pandas in Edmonton on Friday night. Kelley O'Grady scored 13 points and Kali Ellis had 11 to lead the WolfPack, which plays the Huskies in Saskatoon tonight. The TRU men also fell to the Alberta Golden Bears last night, 84-76. Details were unavailable at press time.