VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds are set to face a really familiar foe this weekend in Canada West men's volleyball action as the Thompson Rivers WolfPack visit Vancouver.
The teams will play Saturday and Sunday at War Memorial Gymnasium, with the first serve scheduled for 3 p.m. on both days.
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The games this weekend will be the 15th and 16th meetings, including non-conference and playoff action, between the two schools since Oct. 15, 2010. UBC has not faced any other opponent more in the last three years. In October, the T-Birds beat the WolfPack in five sets in Kamloops.
UBC enters the weekend with a record of 2-2, despite a number of key injuries. Without their top two setters in
Milan Nikic and
Austin Hinchey, they still managed to sweep the Manitoba Bisons last weekend, winning 3-0 on Friday and 3-2 on Saturday. But, middle
Chris Howe went down early in the fifth on Saturday with an ankle injury and his status for this weekend is up in the air.
Head coach
Richard Schick's younger players have stepped up to fill the voids left by the injuries. On Saturday,
Gabriel Aaron led the team with 10 digs and 15 kills and
Mat Guidi knocked down seven kills.
Noah Derksen filled in as a libero in place of
Ian Perry, who has taken over setting duties.
Thompson Rivers comes into Vancouver with a 3-1 record, despite the suspension of head coach Pat Hennelly for the team's opener on Oct. 25, which was the third suspension the Canada West has handed the WolfPack bench boss since 2008.
The main focus of the WolfPack attack is Brad Gunter, who was teammates with Nikic,
Alex Russell and
Jarrid Ireland on the Canadian Junior National Team this past summer.
Gunter leads the Canada West in total kills and is tied atop the category of service aces. Last weekend against Calgary, he recorded a total of 57 kills over two five-set matches. In four regular season outings, he has 186 total attacks; the next closest player on the TRU roster is Philip Ozari with 112.
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