KAMLOOPS, B.C. – No. 4-ranked Trinity Western rallied to beat Thompson Rivers 3-1 (17-25, 25-10, 25-12, 25-21) to complete a weekend sweep of the WolfPack Friday afternoon at the Tournament Capital Centre.
Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.) was a dominating presence in the middle as she helped lead the Spartans to the win, posting an errorless 17 kills while hitting .586 to go with three aces and six blocks. On the outside, Maryn Boldon (Okotoks, Alta.) had a match-high 20 kills along with two aces and three blocks. Kirsten Kampann (Chilliwack, B.C.) added eight kills, three blocks and two aces.
Setter Kendra Kern (Edmonton) had 42 assists while guiding the Spartans to a .364 (49-10-107) hitting percentage. Libero Mikayla McBain (Burlington, Ont.) had a match-high 14 kills.
TRU’s Ema Palkovicova had a team-high 10 kills, while Brooklyn Olfert added eight kills.
The win improves the Spartans to 16-2, while the loss drops the WolfPack to 6-12.
TWU had an 11-4 edge in blocks, while both teams had eight aces.
QUOTABLE Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach
“I’m really proud of the team for the adjustments that they made from night one to night two. Kendra Kern was great in her distribution and helping this team hit at such an efficient rate tonight. Kaylee had a really special weekend and Kirsten and Maryn were really solid for us. Tamar Bil (Maple Ridge, B.C.) was also really good for us in serve receive. I thought our serving package this weekend was really solid. It was a fun weekend of ball and we learned a lot and grew a lot this weekend against a good TRU team.”
AS IT HAPPENED
It was all TRU in the first set, as the WolfPack took a 10-7 lead and were in control throughout, hitting .259 to the Spartans .111. Five TRU aces paced the home side, as the WolfPack fittingly capped the set with a Keira Gent ace.
TWU found its way in the second set, hitting .360 while holding TRU to -.100 and rolled to a 15-point win.
With momentum on their side, the Spartans carried the play the rest of the afternoon, hitting .545 in the third set while committing just a single attacking error before hitting .455 in the final set with just two attacking errors. After the first set, the Spartans hit .450 as a team while TRU hit just .115 over the final three sets.
NOTABLE
· The victory was the Spartans 50th win all-time against TRU. The Spartans own a 50-5 all-time record against the WolfPack.
· TWU hasn’t lost a regular season against against TRU since Feb. 12, 2016 – a streak that spans 17 matches.
· After suffering their first two losses of the season in early January against Manitoba, the Spartans have bounced back to win four straight.
UP NEXT
The Spartans are back home Feb. 1 when they host UBC at 5 p.m. (PT) at the Langley Events Centre in the first of a home-and-home series with the Thunderbirds. The teams meet at UBC the following night (Feb. 2) at 6 p.m. (PT).
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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