KAMLOOPS, British Columbia – The Trinity Western men's volleyball team rallied for a 3-2 (25-15, 23-25, 22-25, 25-23, 16-14) win over Thompson Rivers to open the TRU Tournament Thursday afternoon at the Tournament Capital Centre.
TWU started the contest with a convincing opening set, but the WolfPack responded by winning the second and third sets. That set up an opportunity for the Spartans to rally and they did just that, edging TRU by two points in both the fourth and fifth sets.
"We got off to a hot start and after that the game was super competitive the rest of the way," said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. "We played well early and we played well late. In the middle section, we kind of broke down. Our service got soft and they passed really well. Our reception broke down and then everything got a little sluggish. But I'm happy that we wrapped it up at the end of the fourth and fifth sets.
"We saw some good stuff and some not so good stuff. We have a long way to go with our serving. I thought our offence showed some really good signs. Our block defence was just average and it should be better. But growth is the word and there was some growth in that game so we're moving closer to our target."
The Spartans Ryan Sclater (Port Coquiltam, B.C.) led the way offensively with 21 kills while Blake Scheerhoorn (Belleville, Ont.), who was ha moved from the right side to the left side, added 18 kills for the visitors. Setter Devyn Plett (Winnipeg) had a match-high 51 assists while the team combined for 11.5 blocks and hit .325 as a unit.
"Blake has just recently moved to the left side," Josephson said. "This was his third ever game there. He handled the position quite well. He attacked well and received better than I was expecting. I thought Devon Plett had a good set of games. He is coming back after a couple of years being injured. It was cool to see him out there."
On the opposite side of the net, the WolfPack's Daniel Eikland Rod had a team-high 19 kills while Brad Gunter added 16 kills. Setter Graham Stoliker had 50 assists for a TRU side that hit .280 as a team. The WolfPack was limited to just four blocks.
The Spartans are back on the court at 5 p.m. when they take on the "Pack," which is a split-squad side made up of TRU players.
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