KAMLOOPS, BC:   It took them five sets, but a win is a win. That's how the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men's volleyball team is looking at this weekend in Canada West play.  The Pack made it two wins in a row against visiting UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday (Oct 27) at the Tournament Capital Centre.

The scores were 25-23, 23-25, 17-25, 25-20,15-13.  TRU has won three in a row and moves to 3-1 on the season while the defending USPORTS champion Thunderbirds are still searching for their first win in four outings.
TRU was led by Canada West second team all-star Tim Dobbert with 20 kills in 51 chances. He added a team high eight digs. Charlie Bringloe added 9 kills with Anton Napolitano having 28 assists.

Standouts for the T-Birds included James Takken with 16 kills, two assists and five digs while Danny Aspenlieder contributed 11 kills, four service aces and ten digs. Michael Dowhaniuk chipped in with six kills and five digs while Zec Johnson piled up 32 assists and10 digs on the night.
The WolfPack opened up with a strong start.  They were the first to the technical time out leading 16-10.  But UBC rallied and cut that deficit to 2 (17-15), causing WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly to call a time out.  The Pack seemed to respond and jumped to a 20-16 advantage.  But the pesky T-Birds battled back and tied things up at 22. 
 
Tim Dobbert (5^th year, outside, Aichelberg, Germany) led the way with five kills in nine attempts while Charlie Bringloe (4^th year, outside, Waterloo, ON) had three kills in four swings.     TRU winning that first set by two (25-23).  UBC was led in that set by Danny Aspenlieder  (3^rd year, outside, Vernon, BC) with four kills in seven attempts.


 
The Pack jumped out to an early lead but UBC battled back and the teams exchanged points. A double block by UBC propelled them to a 16-14 technical time out lead.  After being down 23-16, the WolfPack notched four straight points to cut the deficit to 23-21.  UBC bench boss Mike Hawkins tried to change momentum with a time out. It worked and the Thunderbirds came out on top 25-23.  Takken had four kills on nine chances to led the UBC offense.  TRU's main gunner were again Dobbert and Bringloe with three kills apiece.  Dobbert had 8 on 21 swings at this point of the match. Bringloe was six for 14.

Bringloe led the way at the service line for TRU in the third set. He had two service aces in a row to give the WolfPack a 6-6 tie after UBC had the early lead. The T Birds led 16-11 at the time out. After the Thunderbirds went on a roll and took a 19-12 advantage, TRU called a time out. It did no good as Zec Johnson (2^nd year, setter, Langley, BC) promptly delivered a service ace, his second of the match. UBC rolled to a 25-17 victory.
 
The fourth set saw teams trading points from the onset.  UBC wound up reaching the technical time out up three, 16-13. It was the WolfPack who wound up taking the set 25-20 thanks to six kills from Dobbert and three kills from middle Kyle Beheils (4^th year, Edmonton, AB) .


 
In the 'race to 15', otherwise known as the fifth set, TRU took an early lead and made it to eight points first (leading 8-6). With the Pack up 12-10, Jordan Deshane's (3^rd year, middle, Surrey, BC) saw open space and found the back of the court. That was the start of a mini run which saw UBC take a 13-12 lead.  After an attack error by UBC had Thompson Rivers serving for match point, Hawkins called his troops in.  But the time out didn't shake the WolfPack, they took the set 15-13 and the match.

Despite the setback Interim UBC head coach Mike Hawkins was pleased with his team's battle level in pushing it to five set.
 
"I thought we did a good job," said Hawkins. "I thought TRU played well coming out of the gates. I thought they passed better than they did last night and obviously, it posed different challenges. We did a good job responding asserting our style of play. To their credit, they came back and did the same to us."

Hawkins added that he believes his squad earned some valuable experience in going the distance.

"It is important to get some experience playing in fifth sets in Canada West," continued Hawkins. "It is a different feeling. From that standpoint, it is a valuable lesson to learn. There is a lot of reasons for us to take some positives out of this match even though it might sting right now."
 
The WolfPack have a bye next week while the Thunderbirds will visit the Brandon University Bobcats.