LANGLEY, B.C. – No. 4-ranked Trinity Western rode a seven-ace performance by Jesse Elser (Calgary) in a 3-1 (25-13, 25-17, 23-25, 25-21) victory over Thompson Rivers at the Langley Evetns Centre on Saturday.
The Spartans (16-5) were also lifted by a strong night of hitting by Brodie Hofer (Langley, B.C.) and Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.), who earned a combined 32 kills in the victory. On the other end, TRU’s (8-13) team high in kills belonged to Sam Flowerday, who made 12 of them on a hitting percentage of .188.
Hofer (.444), Elser (.433), and Rempel (.303) combined for an efficient tally of 47 kills as the Spartans proceeded to achieve of team hitting percentage of .352, besting the WolfPack’s .217 in the victory.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans crusied to a 25-13 victory in the first set. Hofer threw down six kills on eight attempts, only committing one error en route to securing a 1-0 lead for TWU. The Spartans also hit .688 in the frame.
TWU took a 2-0 lead in the second with a 25-17 victory. Rempel and Hofer each made four kills in the set as Flowerday pushed back with three of his own.
The third set tilted in favour of the WolfPack (25-23) with three more kills coming from Flowerday.
The fourth and final set of the match saw Rempel make five kills en route to a 25-21 set victory. Flowerday had his most notable set of the match, making five kills of his own to push the Spartans.
QUOTABLE Adam Schriemer – TWU Co-Interim Head Coach
“I thought we were really sharp in a lot of phases for the first two sets. [TRU] upgraded their serve pressure in the third set, and although we were able to manage it for the most part, we weren’t clean offensively.
“I’m happy with how we responded in the fourth set – we were able to play pretty clean after the fourth. The biggest thing is evaluating how we can upgrade in that third set after the adjustments [TRU] made.”
NOTABLE
The Spartans are 66-14 all-time against TRU, winning nine of their last 10 over the WolfPack.
Elser’s seven-ace performance ranks as the second most in a single TWU regular season match that spanned four sets. The current record of nine is currently held by Mathias Elser (Calgary), who set it on Oct. 21, 2022 against Manitoba.
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, as well as women’s and men’s disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
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