PREVIEW: ‘Pack back in the TCC to face MRU

Game Information
 
Date: Friday, February 7
Time: 5:30 p.m. PT
Location: TCC Gym
Tickets
 
Date: Saturday, February 8
Time: 3:00 p.m. PT
Location: TCC Gym
Tickets
 
Weekend Story
 
KAMLOOPS – After three long weekends away from home the Thompson Rivers WolfPack men’s volleyball team is back in the TCC this weekend with the Mount Royal Cougars slated to come to Kamloops.
 
Up against MRU at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, the weekend will pit the WolfPack (4-12) against the Cougars (5-11) in what will be a pair of crucial clashes in the Canada West playoff picture.
 
TRU is just one game behind the Cougars in a fight for the eleventh and two games back of the Fraser Valley Cascades for the tenth and final playoff spot.
 
During their last two weekends of play, the WolfPack have pulled off one massive upset and came close to securing another. The ‘Pack started their road swing by splitting the weekend with the No. 2 ranked Alberta Golden Bears in Edmonton. The following week they pushed No. 5 UBC all the way to a fifth set in Vancouver before ultimately falling just shy of their third win over a team ranked in the top five in the nation in as many weeks.
 
The Cougars come to Kamloops after splitting their last weekend of action. MRU swept the MacEwan Griffins Friday night before falling to MacEwan on Saturday, giving the Griffins their first win of the 2024-25 season.
 
These two teams met twice in Kamloops last season, splitting the weekend as TRU won Friday and MRU on Saturday.
 
3 Things
 
1: Papa Murphy’s will be serving up pizza inside the TCC all season long.
 
2: A new playoff format this season will see the seven and eight seeds hosting nine and ten in a best-of-three play-in series.
 
3: The WolfPack are 5-5 all-time in the ten regular season games that the teams have played in Kamloops.
 
By The Numbers
 
14.5: The WolfPack always battle. Their mark of 14.5 points-per-set this season is seventh in the conference, higher than five teams ahead of them in the standings.
 
102: Sam Flowerday continues to write name all over the program and conference record books. With 102 career aces to his name, he is tied for 24th in CW history and all alone in third in WolfPack history. He needs just seven through his remaining four games to tie program leader Brad Gunter.
 
66%: Flowerday is flanked in attack by Rylan Ibbetson and Matthew Hamilton. Together those three have combined for 66 per cent of TRU’s 689 kills on the year.