The TRU women’s volleyball team split a hard-fought homecoming weekend, dropping their first game against the NO. 6 University of Fraser Valley Cascades and before rebounding on Saturday with a win.
On Friday night, the ‘Pack played its first game at home this year. Despite the loss, the team pushed the Cascades to five sets and nearly completed an incredible comeback.
To open the night, the Cascades dominated the entirety of the first set, in which they took it 25-16 with six aces. In the second set, the ‘Pack worked hard not let the Cascades take a second consecutive set. Hail Ward contributed five kills in the set, while both Rida Erlalitepe and Libby Meldru netted a pair of aces. However, the set went in the Cascades’ favor, as they took it 25-23, giving them a leg up in the game.
Coming into the third, the WolfPack knew they had to take control of the set or lose the game in a sweep. The ’Pack held the Cascades to hitting just .077 percent and out-blocked them 4-0. Erlaitepe added more stats to the chart with four kills, while Maria Dancheva also recorded a pair of blocks. The WolfPack took home the set 25-14 to keep the game going 2-1. That momentum from the ‘Pack was carried into the fourth set, where the team never trailed in the score once and hit just under .500 percent.
With the game coming down to the fifth set, the Cascades took a 9-2 lead to start, prompting a rally by the ‘Pack, who attempted to shift the momentum back into their direction. TRU proceeded to go on an 8-2 run that featured two kills from Dancheva as well as back-to-back aces from Madison Maichin to get to within one point at 11-10. However, the women couldn’t capitalize on the comeback, and UFV took the match point at 14-11.
“The girls turned it around and put up a fight, we could have walked off the court in three so they pushed back – and Fraser Valley played well – but hopefully tomorrow we can start a little better,” said Head Coach Chad Grimm in a WolfPack press release.
“I don’t think we are going to reinvent the wheel tomorrow. I think we have to come out with a little more discipline,” Grimm said.
The following day, the ‘Pack set out for redemption. The first set started eerily similar to Friday night, with the Cascades taking the early advantage. The WolfPack, however, wasn’t willing to endure a repeat of the night before, spurring Keria Gent and Erlalelitepe into action, resulting in both earning four kills apiece in the first set. Despite the teams’ best efforts, their comeback in the first set was a little too late, and the Cascades took it 25-20.
In the second, the WolfPack hit just under .600 percent as a team. The score stayed close, and it wasn’t until the latter half of the set that the ‘Pack pulled away from trailing 16-15. Their run featured two kills and a block by Ward, as well as a kill and an ace from Myah Cressy, which gave them a 21-17 advantage and eventually the second set. In the third, the ‘Pack took control of the game. With a pair of kills from Gent and Cressy, they packed in the third set 25-20. In the fourth, the ‘Pack took the game home 25-21, completing their redemption arc from Friday night’s game.
After the weekend, the WolfPack are 12-4 and remain third in the conference. Despite one loss, their performance this week was impressive, with every WolfPack player who attempted more than five attacks in the game finishing with a hitting percentage of .300 or better.