SPARTANS DROP FIVE-SETTER TO VISITING BOBCATS

LANGLEY, B.C. – The No. 8-ranked Trinity Western dropped a five-set match against Brandon, as the Bobcats rallied from a set down to knock off the Spartans 25-20, 18-25, 22-25, 29-27, 15-11 Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. 

Brandon (11-5) staved off two match points in the fourth set to stay alive before eventually forcing a fifth set at 29-27. The Bobcats raced out to a 9-2 lead in the fifth set and while the Spartans (9-7) battled back to get within three points three times, at 10-7, 11-8 and 14-11, the visitors sealed the win at 15-11. 

Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) led the Spartans with 21 kills while Piers de Greeff (Victoria) added 15 kills for the home side. Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) had a match-high 42 assists to go with a match-high five aces. 

Brandon’s Philipp Lauter and Paycen Warkentin had 12 kills each while Jens Watt added 10. Lauter also had six blocks, while J.J. Love had 38 assists and four blocks. 

Playing against the top blocking team in the country, the Spartans were step-for-step with the Bobcats at the net, as both teams registered nine blocks apiece. TWU had a 9-7 edge in aces. The Spartans also led statistically in hitting percentage (.203 to .191), digs (47-35) and aces (9-7). Brandon had a 54-49 advantage in kills.

AS IT HAPPENED 
The Bobcats came out flying offensively, hitting .500 in the first set and committing just two attacking errors. TWU countered with a .300 hitting percentage, but were bettered by five in the opening set. 

In the second set, the Spartans broke it open with Rein at the line, as he helped take the Spartans on a 7-0 run that put TWU ahead 21-15. A kill by Rein sealed the win.

Brandon opened a 6-2 lead in the third set but TWU clawed back to even the set 11-11. A 3-0 run late in the set put TWU ahead 21-19 and the Spartans held off the Bobcats for the win.

The fourth set saw TWU score the first five points with Rein on the service line, before extending their lead to 12-5. But the Bobcats didn’t go away, eventually tying the set 20-20. TWU bounced back with a 3-0 run to put themselves within striking distance of victory. But Brandon held off both of TWU’s cracks at match point, before a back and forth went Brandon’s way at 29-27. 

The Bobcats rolled momentum into the fifth set and never trailed. 

QUOTABLE
Adam Schriemer – TWU Head Coach
“I thought once we were up big in the fourth set and after Slammer’s run, we got super complacent and timid. I think we thought we had won the game at 5-0 and then at 12-5. When you play a team as good as Brandon, they’re not going to go away. They continued to apply a lot of pressure on us and we broke down fundamentally and, most importantly, mentally, which is the most frustrating thing. We put ourselves in such a good position to close out that game, but I thought Brandon did a nice job to put just enough pressure on us and it was just enough that made us collapse.”

NOTABLE
•    The Spartans, who beat the Bobcats in four on Friday night, have now had weekend splits in five of their eight regular season weekends, splitting with Brandon, No. 7 Mount Royal, No. 5 Saskatchewan, No. 2 Alberta and Fraser Valley.
•    TWU is 31-16 all-time against Brandon.

UP NEXT
The Spartans will travel to play Thompson Rivers Jan. 25-26 in Kamloops, B.C.

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 and women’s and men’s disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 33 Canada West team championships.

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