Colin Carson, Spencer Reed and the rest of the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack are off to the playoffs.
The WolfPack men's volleyball team -- which leans heavily on the two Prince George high school graduates -- will hit kill shots against the Trinity Western University Spartans in a Canada West Universities Athletic Association quarterfinal match Thursday night in Langley. A TRU win would send the club to the Canada West final four tournament in Edmonton, a qualifier for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport nationals.
Coincidentally, Trinity Western will host the national gathering.
Carson, a second-year setter for the Kamloops-based WolfPack, likes his team's chances of success against the Spartans in the quarterfinal showdown.
"We played well against Trinity Western in the regular season," he said Tuesday night from Kamloops. "We split with them, both five sets, both really close games. We just have to be consistent and know when to be aggressive."
The WolfPack finished the regular schedule with a 9-9 record, while the Spartans went 13-5.
The WolfPack solidified a berth in the Canada West playoffs by sweeping the UBC Thunderbirds (7-11) in a weekend series in Kamloops. TRU won 21-25, 24-26, 25-23, 25-20, 15-10 on Friday and 25-15, 25-23, 25-19 on Saturday.
"That was definitely good for us," said the 19-year-old Carson.
"I think we needed to get on a bit of a roll going into playoffs and now we've won four straight. We were also tied with UBC going into this past weekend, so to beat them means we have a little bit of an easier first round than they do, so that's nice."
Carson, a 2009 Duchess Park grad, was a huge part of both victories, as he dished out 29 assists the first night and 32 the second.
Reed also sees plenty of court time for the WolfPack. The 2008 graduate of PGSS is a mainstay at libero.
After Carson's TRU season came to a close last year, he tried out for, and made, Canada's junior national team. He'll attend tryouts again in May.
