SPARTANS HEAD INTO POSTSEASON ON WINNING STREAK

CALGARY, Alberta – The No. 8 Trinity Western Spartans are heading into the Canada West playoffs on a four-game winning streak after defeating the Calgary Dinos 3-1 Saturday night at the Jack Simpson Gym in Calgary, Alta. The 25-19, 25-22, 16-25, 25-16 win improves TWU to 16-8, while the loss drops Calgary to 7-17. The Spartans’ final playoff positioning is yet to be determined, with TWU potentially finishing anywhere from third to fifth, depending on the outcome of other games.

First-year outside Piers De Greef (Victoria, B.C.) with 14 kills, six digs, three blocks, and two aces, Fourth-year outside Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) with 13 kills, three aces, three blocks, and two digs, and third-year middle Jackson Corneil (Surrey, B.C.) with 12 kills, and five blocks led the Spartans. Louis Kunstmann with 13 kills, and eight digs, and Zach Evans with eight kills led the Dinos

TWU third-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) finished with 47 set assists, six digs, three aces, and two blocks, while Calgary’s setter Anders Bouck finished with 24 set assists, three digs, and three blocks for the Dinos.

AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans and Dinos were even in the early part of the match with TWU leading 8-7. The Spartans took control of the opening set with a 10-5 run to lead 18-12. From there, TWU played side out ball to take the opening set 25-19. TWU finished the opening set hitting at .500 (14-2-24), while Calgary hit at .333 (8-3-15).
 
The second set was even till the late stages with the Spartans holding a one-point lead, 19-18. But from their TWU was the better of the two teams taking six of the last 10 points to take a 2-0 set lead with the 25-22 win. Both teams struggled with their attack efficiency TWU dropped to .286 (13-5-28), while Calgary dropped to .036 (7-6-28).
 
The Dinos found their game in the third set and quickly took control with an 8-2 lead. Calgary never let TWU get going in the set as they expanded their lead to 10 points, 18-8, heading into the final stages of the set. TWU got their side out game going over the final points, but Calgary still prevailed with the nine-point win, 25-16. The Spartans had their worst attacking set of the night in the third set. TWU finished at .000 (10-10-26), while Calgary had their best set at .391 (11-2-23).
 
The final set started similarly to the first two with the two teams matching each other and TWU holding a one-point, 8-7, lead early. But TWU would turn the tide of the game with a 11-3 run to take a 19-10 lead. From there the Spartans cruised to another nine-point win, 25-16. To take the match 3-1. In the final set the Spartans regained their form from the first set hitting at .500 (18-3-30), while Calgary hit at .273 (8-2-22).
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Adam Schriemer
“It was an interesting game. I thought we got off to a good start and were able to control a lot of the phases of the game. In the third set I thought that we got a little too terminal and had a lot of attack errors and that made it hard on us. I think a lot of the errors we made were out of system because Calgary ramped up their serve pressure. In the fourth set, we did a good job of cleaning up our reception and we were more efficient offensively and we matched their serve pressure too so we were able to put pressure on them as we did in the first two sets.”
 
“Really happy with the way Jackson played. I thought he was really efficient in the middle and I thought that we used him well. It was good to see Aaron Elser (third-year, Calgary, Alta.) get some action this weekend. He is a hometown kid here in Calgary and we were really happy with his role here this weekend.”
 
“Overall happy with our semester. We got a lot better, especially at the things that we care about and we can correlate to winning. I’m really excited for this group and I can’t wait to see them next week in the playoffs.”
 
NOTABLE

• TWU finished the night hitting at .324 (55-20-108), while Calgary finished at .239 (34-13-88).
• The Spartans had an 11-3 edge in service aces, while the Dinos led in blocks 11.5-9.
• TWU finished with 35 digs to Calgary’s 28.
• Heading into the postseason the Spartans are on a four-game winning streak and have gone 11-2 over their last 13 matches.
• Last night the Spartans defeated the Dinos 3-0.
• The Spartans are 54-28 lifetime against the Dinos.
• The last time the Spartans lost to the Dinos was 3-1 on February 26, 2016, in Calgary, Alta.
• TWU has currently won 16 straight conference and play-off matches against Calgary.
• Their last meeting was in last year’s Canada West semi-final, which TWU won 2-0 winning the matches 3-2, and 3-1 at the Langley Events Centre.

 
UP NEXT
The Spartans await the outcome of other Canada West matches to determine their final playoff positioning. Should TWU finish in 3-4 spot they would host the opening round, which would begin on Thursday, February 22 at the Langley Events Centre. All matches will be available 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-