LANGLEY, B.C. – Fifth-year outside Jesse Elser (Calgary) led Trinity Western in a 3-0 victory over Thompson Rivers (25-12, 25-15, 25-22) at the Langley Events Centre on Saturday, making 12 kills while adding five aces and three blocks.
The Spartans (17-5) shared a team-high of kills (12) between Elser and Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.), who hit .524 and .688 respectively. TRU’s (8-14) Sam Flowerday earned the game-high in the match, putting down 15 kills on an uber-efficient hitting percentage of .609.
TWU held the edge in side-out (80 percent) and hitting percentage, posting an astounding .515. The WolfPack sided out on 52 percent of their opportunities, hitting a solid .323 as a team in the loss.
AS IT HAPPENED
TWU won the first set 25-12. The Spartans held the WolfPack to a hitting percentage of .080 as a team as Rempel and Elser both posted three kills on five errorless attempts.
The Spartans rolled in the second set 25-15 with Elser making six kills in the frame. TWU hit .762 as a team in the set.
The third and final set was tightly contested as TRU hit .682 in the frame. Flowerday was unstoppable in the set, making nine kills in the process, but the Spartans pulled past the WolfPack with a 25-22 win.
QUOTABLE Adam Schriemer – TWU Co-Interim Head Coach
“I thought we were great in all phases tonight. Our sideout rhythm was awesome, Mathias [Elser] (Calgary) had a really good handle on what we wanted to do offensively, and our hitters were really efficient. [TRU] started to streak in the third set, and we couldn’t slow Flowerday down. He was a handful. Still, we’re really happy that we were able to make it up in our serve.
“In general, really happy with Jesse [Elser] and Brodie [Hofer] (Langley, B.C.) playing that well in their last home game. Those are two legends of the program, and they played like legends tonight.”
NOTABLE
The Spartans are 67-14 all-time against TRU, winning nine of their last 10 over the WolfPack.
Elser made 12 aces in TWU’s matchups against TRU this weekend.
Prior to the game, TWU recognized Hofer and Elser for their Spartan careers.
UP NEXT
The Spartans are at No. 8-ranked Brandon (12-10) to end their regular season on Feb. 17-18.
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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