February 11 - It was a great ending to the CIS season for the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack in front of the home crowd today. The University of Manitoba Bisons won the match 3-1 (25-17; 23-25; 25-22; 25-21) but had to work hard for the win.

The first set wasn’t great for the ‘Pack, which saw the Bisons lead throughout the set to end with a 25-17 win.

The ‘Pack came alive in the second set, leading throughout to win 25-23.

The ‘Pack kept its fire in the third set, leading until the Bisons tied it up 18-18, then took the lead when it counted, and put the pressure on to take the set away from the ‘Pack with a 25-22 final set score.

The Bisons took an early lead in the fourth and final set, but the WolfPack caught up, tying the set 6-6, then passed the Bisons and maintained a lead throughout the first and second technical time-outs. The Bisons tied up the set 16-16, then grabbed a small lead and held it, then outpaced the ‘Pack to pull off a 25-21 set score and win the match.

“We had a good crowd and some great play this afternoon,” said WolfPack head coach Patrick Hennelly. “The guys responded like they’re supposed to. They started to enjoy the match. It was a great home finale.”

Top scorers for the WolfPack were Darcy Barisoff (South Slocan) with 15 kills and six digs, followed by Behlul Yavasgel (Istanbul, Turkey) with 11 kills two service aces and four digs and Chad Coldwell (Merritt) with 11 kills, and five digs.

Bison high-pointers were Trevor Froese (Steinbach MB) with 15 kills, two service aces and nine digs, Toon van Lankvelt (Rivers, MB) with 11 kills and three digs, and Josh Klassen (Winnipeg) with 11 digs.

Complete statistics...