SASKATOON – It got a lot closer than they would have liked but in the end the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women's volleyball team was able to pick up a 3-2 (25-22, 25-18, 15-25, 32-34-15-11) victory over the visiting Thompson Rivers WolfPack inside the PAC on Friday night.
 
After the Huskies took sets one and two the WolfPack stormed back to claim the next two, including a marathon fourth set that the visitors won 34-32. The Huskies rebounded to claim the fifth and the match however moving their record to 8-3 while the WolfPack fall to 8-3.
 
Emily Koshinsky had a game-high 18 kills for the Huskies, followed closely by Mandi Fraser and Angela Lavoie who each finished the night with 14. Averie Allard had a staggering 55 assists for Saskatchewan.
 
Olga Savenchuk and Kseniya Kocyigit paced the WolfPack with 14 and 12 kills respectively while Abby Spratt recorded 31 assists.
 
With the Huskies leading two sets to one it was the fourth set that kept Thompson Rivers in it.
 
The teams traded points until Spratt stepped to the line and served three-straight tough balls to put the visitors in front by a score of 12-8. After a Saskatchewan timeout the Huskies rallied to score six of the next eight points to tie the game back up at 14 apiece.
 
It was another long run of the teams trading points until back-to-back kills from Savenchuk and Kocyigit gave the WolfPack a 24-22 advantage. Against the Huskies rallied however and kills from Koshinky and Lavoie kept them in the game. The frenetic pace carried forward throughout the fourth with neither team able to put the other away until Kendra Finch and Kocyigit went back-to-back to give TRU the 34-32 lead.
 
The visitors were able to carry that momentum forward into the fifth and jumped out to a 5-2 lead before the Huskies, led by three kills from Olivia Mattern scrapped their way back into the set en route to the 15-11 victory that sealed the win.
 
These teams are back in action tomorrow at the PAC in a game scheduled for 3 p.m.