Head coach Chad Grimm and his TRU WolfPack women’s volleyball team are in position to shock the Canadian university sports landscape, nationally ranked and pushing to reach the U Sports Championship tournament for the first time since program inception in 2005-2006.
The club was 6-2 as of press deadline and ranked fifth in the country after claiming its first-ever weekend sweep of the perennial powerhouse Trinity Western Spartans of Langley.
“It’s nice to be in the conversation as a competitive team and also understanding it’s early in the season and it doesn’t mean anything except they’re [the rankings] on a piece of paper and you’ve got to prove it when the whistle blows,” Grimm said.
“We’ve talked about how it’s a little bit different being more the hunter and less the hunted than some other years, but it’s something we need to get comfortable with and understand it’s a privileged situation we’re in so we should enjoy it.”
The WolfPack were pegged fifth in the pre-season Canada West coaches’ poll — their highest-ever placement on that list — and sent shockwaves across the country on opening weekend with a sweep of the Manitoba Bisons, who were ranked No. 1 in the poll.
“Our potential? We can be a champion,” said 6-foot-2 outside hitter Rida Erlalelitepe, the 28-year-old Turkish import who is ranked among the top five in the conference in kills and kills per set.
Erlalelitepe and fellow towering European outside hitter Maria Dancheva — a 6-foot-5 Bulgarian — were recruited into to the mix this season, additions with professional volleyball experience who influenced the pre-season coaches’ poll and have potential to spur the latest small-school U Sports Cinderella story.
But whispers of a Disney finish would not be resonating without the capable cast of Canadians assembled by Grimm.
Six-foot middle Faith Christensen of Edmonton was around in 2021-2022, a rookie when the rebuilding WolfPack sputtered to a 2-14 finish.
“It’s a new feel from the previous years,” said Christensen, who is among the top five in blocks in the conference this season. “There is a group of us that started off when our team was a little bit rocky. It’s been a building experience and it’s pretty awesome to be where we are now.”
Fourth-year outside hitter Brooklyn Olfert of Winnipeg is among conference kills leaders and fourth-year setter Hadley Schmidt of Saskatoon earned Canada West women’s volleyball player of the week honours after racking up nearly 70 assists and five aces during Spartans-sweep weekend.
“There is definitely more pressure that comes with being a winning team and I think I like that,” said Olivia Andulajevic, a third-year libero from Victoria. “It’s finally our time to shine and overcome challenges we’ve had in the past.”
Outside hitters Ella Sladden and Hailey Ward are the club Kamloopsians.
“I’m really proud of that,” Ward said. “I do a lot with the younger kids in the community, and it’s really cool to see where I used to be, and they think it’s so cool that I play on a university team.”
TRU reached a new program high of fourth in the U Sports top 10 rankings earlier this season following a sweep of the UBC Okanagan Heat of Kelowna.
The only other squad to flirt with that distinction was the 2019-2020 WolfPack, a veteran group that was built to peak in 2020-2021, when the pandemic wiped out the season and cued a rebuild.
That group never got to find out if the slipper fit, but Cinderella stories do happen in Kamloops (see 2022 WolfPack men’s soccer national champions) and Grimm’s latest offering appears to be dressed for the ball.
“Any time you’re able to build that culture as a group and have some talent, you have a chance,” Grimm said. “They’ve gone about their business the right way to earn themselves a chance to be in that conversation.”