Historic weekend for WolfPack

By MARK HUNTER, Daily News Sports Reporter
February 12 2007

The TRU WolfPack men's volleyball team made history Saturday, defeating the Calgary Dinos 3-2 to become the first TRU team to earn a Canada West playoff spot.

The WolfPack, which entered the weekend needing a split to earn the seventh and final playoff spot, earned its sixth victory of the season by winning a five-set thriller in Calgary (24-23, 24-26, 20-25, 25-20, 15-11). Tru lost Sunday's regular-season finale in three sets (25-18, 26-24, 25-21).

Matt Harris (14) and Martin Korsbak make a huge block against visiting Saskatchewan early in the season.

"It was sure nice to get it done on the first day," said TRU head coach Pat Hennelly. "It kept the tension away and took a lot of pressure off to get it done on the first try."
 
The WolfPack (6-12) will travel to Winnipeg on Friday to play the Wesmen (14-4), who earned the No.2 seed with a pair of victories over Brandon on the weekend.

TRU made sure Sunday's match against the Dinos wouldn't mean anything with one of its best sets of the season.

TRU had an incredible 81.2 percent kill efficiency in the fifth set, getting 13 points on 15 sets, without any errors.
  
"We were perfect in that fifth set," said Hennelly. "Robin Schoebel really led the way with eight kills. He was just dominant, and that really helped the whole team."

Schoebel led TRU with 22 kills in the match. Troy Jaggard, a Calgary native, had 19 kills, with Matt Harris getting 18.

Ryan Lenz had 19 kills for the Dinos, who have missed the playoffs the last four seasons. Calgary improved to 4-14 with Sunday's victory.

Looking ahead, Hennelly is hoping Saturday night's clutch play will continue into Friday and Saturday, when the WolfPack plays its first playoff games.

"If we don't thrive under this pressure, we're not going to do well in the first round (of playoffs) anyway," Hennelly said. "That was only our third fifth-set of the season, and we've won all three. It was very nice to sit back and watch that team play in the fifth set."

No. 1 Alberta has a bye, with No. 3 Trinity Western playing host to No. 6 Saskatchewan and No. 4 UBC welcoming No. 5 Manitoba.

Women's Volleyball: The WolfPack finished its season with a pair of losses to the host Calgary Dinos (15-5).

TRU (4-16) lost Sunday in three sets (25-12, 25-15, 25-20). Sandra-Joy Unaegbu had six kills to lead TRU, with Robyn Devlin getting 10 digs. Julie Young and Joanna Niemczewska each had 11 kills for Calgary.

TRU was a little better Saturday, losing in four sets (26-28, 25-13, 25-21, 25-17). Unaegbu had 13 kills for TRU, with Devlin getting 12 kills and Brenna Adkins 10. Laura Plouffe helped out with 18 digs. Niemczewska had 16 kills for Calgary.

Women's Basketball: The WolfPack fell to 2-21 with a 64-61 loss to the host Victoria Vikes (11-12) on Sunday. Kelley O'Grady had 20 points for the WolfPack, while Janet Hatfield and Tiffany Olsen had 14 points for Victoria.

Men's Basketball: The WolfPack (1-21) finished a disappointing season with an 85-61 loss to the host Victoria Vikes on Sunday. Kamar Burke had his seventh consecutive double-double to finish the season, getting 16 points and 10 assists. Charlie Spurr had 11 points and Chris Vanderweide had 10 points. Brandon Ellis had 29 points to lead UVic.