OTTAWA – The Trinity Western men’s volleyball program will make up nearly a third of Canada’s 16-man roster at this week’s Volleyball Nations League stop in Ottawa, as five Spartans have been named to the squad that will compete at TD Place in Ottawa in Week 2 of VNL.
The “Maple Spartans” contingent includes Spartan alums Brodie Hofer (’23), Pearce Eshenko (’20), Eric Loeppky (’20) and Lucas Van Berkel (’14), who are on the 14-man playing group, while Jordan Schnitzer (’22) is one of two reserves.
Canada, who is ranked No. 12 in the FIVB World Ranking and has already qualified for the 2024 Paris Olympics, opens this week’s VNL tournament Tuesday against No. 9 Cuba (8pm ET / 5pm PT), before taking on No. 8 Argentina on Thursday (8pm ET / 5pm PT), No. 3 USA on Saturday (4:30pm ET / 1:30pm PT) and No. 11 Serbia on Sunday (6pm ET / 3pm PT).
The event is streamed at www.cbcsports.ca and VBTV.
All told, the Spartans men’s volleyball program has nine players who are competing with various Canadian groups this summer, as Jackson Howe (’22) is with Canada’s senior men’s 18-man roster and Jesse Elser (’23) is with the NextGen team, while current Spartans Cory Schoenherr is with the U23 group and Piers de Greeff is with the U21 squad.
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 34 Canada West team championships.
About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in CIS sports. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
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