SPARTANS STILL PERFECT

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans held off a scrappy Mount Royal Cougars’ squad on their way to a 3-1 victory Saturday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 25-21, 25-21, 23-25, and 25-17 win moves the Spartans to 12-0, will the loss drops the Cougars to 2-12.

Second-year outside Maryn Boldon (Okotoks, Alta.) with 16 kills, four blocks, three digs, and two aces, and fourth-year outside Kirsten Kampman (Chilliwack, B.C.) with 11 kills, and six digs led the Spartans. Emma Boyd with 15 kills, and two aces, Jessica Osczevski, and Mya Morgan with 10 kills each led the Cougars.

TWU third-year setter Kendra Kern (Edmonton, Alta.) led the Spartan attack with 28 set assists, while Lexi Harrod led the Cougars with 38 set assists.

AS IT HAPPENED
The two teams were evenly matched to start the contest and were tied at 14-14. As the set progressed the Spartans took a slight edge, 18-16. The Cougars closed to trail 20-19, but from there TWU had the better of MRU outscoring the Cougars 5-2 to take the opening set 25-21. TWU hit at .394 (15-2-33), while MRU hit at .243 (15-6-37).
 
In the second set MRU took control early and jumped out to a 10-5 lead. TWU gradually closed the gap and trailed 16-14 heading into the later stages of the set. The Spartans and the Cougars were even at 20-20 and then TWU took over with a 5-1 run to take the second set 25-21 and a 2-0 set lead. TWU hit at .250 (11-4-28), while MRU hit at .226 (14-7-31).
 
The two teams were again even in the early stages of the third set, tied at 11-11. Then with the Spartans trailing 12-11, TWU looked to take control with a 7-3 run to lead 18-14. But MRU would not go away and took over the final points of the set to take a 23-19 lead off of a 9-1 run. The Spartans closed to trail by one point, 24-23, but could not finish the set at the Cougars took the third set 25-23 to trail 2-1 in sets. TWU hit at .087 (7-5-23), while MRU hit at .040 (10-9-25).
 
The teams were again even to start the fourth set. However, with TWU 12-11 the Spartans took control with 4-0 run to take a 16-11 lead. Mount Royal was unable to close the gap as the two teams played side-out ball before the Spartans took the final set 25-17 to earn the 3-1 win. TWU hit at .550 (11-0-20), while MRU hit at .174 (8-4-23) in the final set.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
“I thought that it was an all-around outstanding effort. We had to work through a lot of adversity tonight. We had great kill efficiencies from everybody. My three big hitters were over .300 and our middles did an outstanding job. The one area that we maybe struggled with was our serving in the fourth set. But we made up for it in other areas. We stayed calm under pressure and we worked through our mental battles, and I’m really proud of how they came in played through everything. Pleased with how Kern came in and supported the team and helped us get through the match.”
 
NOTABLE

• TWU finished the night hitting at .317 (44-11-104), while Mount Royal finished at .361 (47-26-116)
• The Spartans had 11 team blocks, while the Cougars had six.
• MRU finished with an 8-6 advantage in service aces.
• The Spartans had 39 digs, while the Cougars finished with 42.
• The Spartans are 31-4 lifetime against the Cougars.
• TWU defeated MRU 3-1 Friday night at the LEC.
• TWU defeated MRU 3-0 in last year’s Canada West championship match on March 11 at home at the LEC.
• The last time the Spartans lost to the Cougars in a Canada West conference or play-off match was 3-1 on November 11, 2020.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now head to Winnipeg, Man. for a two-game series with the Manitoba Bisons on January 12-13. The matches is set to start at 7:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. (CT) and can be seen live on Canada West TV.

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women’s and men’s soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country, and track & field, as well as women’s rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men’s rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
 
-TW-