This past weekend, the fifth-seeded TRU women’s volleyball saw their playoff chances come to an end in dramatic fashion.
The WolfPack had a tough challenge in the quarter-final matches on Friday and Saturday, going up against the fourth seed and two-time defending USports National Champions, UBC Thunderbirds. On Friday, the team fell in three straight sets to the Thunderbirds and Saturday’s matches ended with the same results.
During Friday’s game, Brooklyn Olfert helped the team gain key points and had a team-high eight kills in the match, while Keira Gent also added six kills to the team’s total points. To start the game, the Thunderbirds took flight, gaining an early 10-2 lead. Undeterred, TRU tried to stay in the hunt during the first set but fell short at 25-15.
The ‘Pack started the second set off stronger, with points scored by Gent and Rida Erlalelitepe, giving the team a brief 4-3 advantage over UBC. But after a close first half of the set, UBC took off on another run, adding 10 points to its lead. By the end of the second set, UBC emerged victorious, 25-13.
Big plays from Faith Christensen helped put TRU in the lead for some of the third and final set but could not sustain the momentum. UBC would eventually triumph over the ‘Pack, winning the set 25-14 and securing game one.
“We have to put this one in the rear-view mirror – hopefully, learn a couple of things and get ready to go tomorrow.” Women’s volleyball head coach Chad Grimm said in the press release from the ‘Pack.
On Saturday, the ‘Pack faced a must-win game to stay in the playoffs. Though the team fell short in the first set by 25-16, the women played some of their best volleyball of the weekend in the second set. A flurry of offence provided TRU with a quick 6-2 lead, and Erlalelitepe executed six powerful kills while Olfert added five more to the set.
However, the lead was short-lived when UBC went on a seven-point run, taking over the score and eventually winning the second set 25-20.
In the third set, the ‘Pack let the game slip out of their hands with a final score of 25-7, resulting in a sweep by UBC, ending TRU’s chances of advancing to the final four. Despite a tough loss, Erlalelitepe, a first-team Canada West All-star, helped TRU through Saturday’s games with an exciting 11 kills.
Despite this tough playoff exit, this season was one of the strongest in the program’s history. It was the women’s second consecutive appearance at the CW postseason and their sixth time out of the last nine seasons. This season also marked the first time any WolfPack team was consistently ranked in the top 10 of the USports rankings all season.
“We’ll reflect on what was generally a positive season,” Grimm said. “We had some growth and were learning how to deal with the expectations that come with being a nationally top 10 ranked team all year and what that feels like. Hopefully we gain some growth out of that and are able to use that experience to drive us forward next season.”