EDMONTON – The Bad News Bears are once again on top of Canada West. The Alberta Golden Bears defeated their rival Trinity Western Spartans 3-1, capturing their second-straight Canada West title, and 15th in program history.
CW Player of the Year Isaac Heslinga ripped home a match-high 23 kills in front of 1,110 fans in the UofA’s Main Gym, leading the Golden Bears in their successful quest to retain the Costa Chrysanthou Trophy. Heslinga also added nine digs and two blocks in Alberta’s win.
Fourth-year outside Henry Rempel with 17 kills, five digs, three blocks, and two aces, and first-year outside Piers de Greeff with 12 kills, six digs, and two aces led the Spartans.
In what the boxscore might not accurately show, Friday’s final was extremely tight and even. The Spartans finished the match with more kills, while Alberta was led by 9.5 blocks and six fewer service errors.
Heslinga and Sargent combined for nine kills in the opening set, as the Bears the closed out the first with a 5-2 run to earn a 25-19 win and a 1-0 lead in the match.
TWU completely flipped the script in the second, cruising to a 25-14 win. The Bears scored just six kills in the second, contributing nine attack errors in the loss.
Thanks in large part to Heslinga, who is the 11th Bear to be named CW Player of the Year, the Bears responded with back-to-back 25-21 wins to clinch the match. Heslinga had 11 kills on 19 attempts in a dominant third set, before adding three more in the fourth. Needing to up their serve in hopes of getting Alberta out of rhythm, TWU committed 12 service errors in the third and fourth sets.
The Bears and Spartans will now travel to Kingston, Ont. for the U SPORTS championship, hosted by Queen’s University. The quarter-final matches will begin on Thursday with tournament draw and game times to be announced Sunday, March 10.
Alberta and TWU have combined to win 13 of the last 17 U SPORTS titles. They’ve even faced off five times in the U SPORTS final, most recently in 2022 when Alberta bested the Spartans in a rematch of that year’s Canada West championship. The Golden Bears are nine-time national champions, while Trinity Western won its seventh U SPORTS gold medal last year.