Ken Olynyk, athletics and recreation director for the TRU WolfPack, loves Pat Hennelly’s passion, but thinks TRU’s men’s volleyball coach needs to re-direct that passion.

This would be a good week to start.

Canada West suspended Hennelly, TRU’s men’s volleyball head coach, last week after separate incidents during matches in February. Hennelly sat out Saturday’s conference semifinal loss to the host Alberta Golden Bears, but returned Sunday, when the WolfPack lost to the Calgary Dinos.

TRU wound up fourth in Canada West.

Hennelly was put on conference notice following a Feb. 12 home match against the Trinity Western Spartans, and was suspended after receiving a yellow card in a match against the Bobcats in Brandon on Feb. 28. Assistant coach Chad Grimm ran the bench Saturday.

The timing was anything but good for the WolfPack — TRU is to play host to the CIS championship starting Friday at the Tournament Capital Centre. But Olynyk wasn’t worried about that, and doesn’t mind that Hennelly is a passionate guy.

“All we want to do is direct his passion,” Olynyk said. “Pat is a very passionate individual, and I’m never going to want to destroy his passion. We just want to direct his passion in a different way.”

TRU ran into a pair of tough teams at the CW tournament in Edmonton, losing in four sets to the Golden Bears (25-18, 23-25, 25-17, 25-20) on Saturday, and in three sets to the Dinos (27-25, 25-19,25-22) on Sunday.

On Saturday, Kevin Tillie had 16 kills and two aces to lead the WolfPack. Gord Perrin ended with 12 kills and nine digs, and Robin Schoebel pitched in with 11 kills.

Thomas Jarmoc had 19 kills and 10 digs for the Golden Bears, who earned the right to play host to the conference tournament — along with a bye last week — by finishing first in the regular season.

Tillie led the WolfPack against Calgary on Sunday, finishing with 10 kills and 11 digs. Perrin and Schoebel each had nine kills, and Colin Caron had 32 set assists.

Don McNeill had 13 kills for the Dinos, who were ranked No. 2 in the conference before the weekend.

The Golden Bears went on to beat the No. 3 Trinity Western Spartans in five sets (25-17, 25-21, 23-25, 22-25, 15-9) in the Canada West final.

Alberta had five players hit double digits in kills, led by Spencer Leiske’s 15 and Jarmoc’s 14. Trinity’s Steven Marshall had 22 kills and Marc Howatson ended with 11.

The WolfPack will enter nationals as the No. 7 seed, and will meet the second-ranked Golden Bears on Friday, 6 p.m., at the TCC. TRU will need to win two matches to reach Sunday’s final (6 p.m.). The WolfPack has never beaten Alberta in TRU’s five seasons in Canada West.

Alberta is the two-time defending CIS champion, and has appeared in each of the last five national finals.

The Quebec-champion Laval Rouge et Or, which lost last year’s final to the Golden Bears, is ranked No. 1. Laval will meet the No. 8 Montreal Carabins, who lost to Laval in the Quebec final, in Friday’s first game, scheduled for 1 p.m.

Fourth-ranked Trinity Western, which is based in Langley, will play the No. 5 Queen’s Golden Gaels in Friday’s second game, scheduled for 3 p.m.

The Atlantic-champion Dalhousie Tigers, who enter the tournament with the No. 3 ranking, will take on the sixth-ranked Dinos in Friday’s last game, scheduled for 8 p.m.

p p p

The WolfPack baseball team split a Saturday doubleheader in Bremerton, Wash.

TRU beat the Olympic Community College Rangers 3-0 in the opener, before losing 5-3 to the Green River CC Gators.

Danny Moore pitched the first game, and Brian Ivan had two doubles. Jordan Broatch was the losing pitcher in the second game, and Ivan and Adam Halland each had three hits.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca