LANGLEY, British Columbia – Led by fourth-year outside Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) with 21 kills, and two aces the No. 8 Trinity Western Spartans defeated the No. 7 UBC Thunderbirds 3-2 Thursday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 27-29, 25-11, 25-13, 23-25, 15-10 win moves the Spartans to 12-7, while the loss drops the Thunderbirds 13-6.
In addition to Rempel, rookie outside Piers De Greeff (Victoria, B.C.) with 12 kills, and six digs, and second-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with eight kills, four aces, and seven digs had strong nights for the Spartans. Reeve Gingera with 15 kills, seven blocks, and four digs, and Gavin Moes with eight kills, five digs, and one block led the Thunderbirds.
TWU third-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) finished with xx set assists, while UBC’s setter Mason Greves finished with 33 set assists.
QUOTABLE Adam Schriemer, TWU Head Coach
“Going into the game, we wanted to be really aggressive with our serve. Obviously serving is one of our strengths. As the game went on, (UBC) got a bit more comfortable with it and we got a bit fatigued but I thought we really dictated the game with our serving and we were able to live with some of the misses because we were getting so many results. I’m proud of our guys for being aggressive.
“I thought that was quietly one of Anselm’s better games. I thought he was very accurate, especially in transition. Obviously he was great from the service line and the way he used the middle pipe was really efficient, especially early in the match.
“Going into Friday’s game, I think we have to have the perspective that this is what playoff volleyball feels like. This is what every game is going to fee like. (UBC) is going to be a little cleaner in serve-pass because they’re playing in their own gym. That’s the biggest thing we need to focus on – still being aggressive with our serve while handling their serve because they’ll be more comfortable at home.”
AS IT HAPPENED
The opening set was even from start to finish. The two teams were tied at 8-8, 16-16, and 23-23. UBC had set point at 24-23, but Kaden Schmidt was able to get the kill and tie the set at 24-24. The Thunderbirds got back to set point after a kill from Gingera put UBC up 25-24. The Spartans were able to hold off two more set points from the Thunderbirds. But at 27-27, TWU had back-to-back errors which gave the opening set to UBC 29-27. TWU hit at .188 (11-5-32), while UBC finished the first set at .290 (15-6-31).
TWU came out on fire to start the second set and quickly took control with by taking eight of the first nine points to lead 8-1 and force UBC into a timeout. The Spartans continued to cruise through the set to take a commanding 16-5 lead. The Spartans easily closed out the set and after a kill from Schmidt TWU had a 25-11 win to tie the match at 1-1. TWU hit an impressive .625 (11-1-16), while UBC struggled at .062 (5-4-16).
UBC was strong to start the third set and after two straight TWU errors had built a 6-2 lead. But from there it was all TWU. The Spartans took full control of the game with a 16-2 run to take a sizable 18-8 lead. Rempel closed out the set with a cross-court attack to give TWU the 25-13 win and a 2-1 sets lead. The Spartans cooled off to .350 (11-4-20) in the third set, but the Thunderbirds struggled at .045 (6-5-22).
In the fourth set, the two teams were in a similar battle as the opening set. TWU and UBC were tied at 8-8, 16-16, and 22-22. A net violation on a Rempel attack put the Spartans up 23-22 and pushed the Thunderbirds into a timeout. A kill by Gingera tied the set back up at 23-23. UBC’s Jon Lockie and Gingera followed up with a block to give the Thunderbirds set point at 24-23. The Thunderbirds Moes closed out the set off of the block and tied the match 2-2 with a 25-23 win. The Spartans hit at .310 (14-5-29), while the Thunderbirds had their best set of the match hitting at .345 (13-3-29).
The fifth set was back and forth early, but after an extended rally, TWU’s De Greeff was able to hit high and hard off of the UBC block to put the Spartans up 8-5 at the changeover. The Spartans took two of the next three points to give TWU a 10-6 lead, as UBC took the timeout. The Thunderbirds couldn’t get closer as Rempel got the Spartans to match point with a hard attack off hands, which was followed by a UBC attack error to give TWU the set 15-10, and the match 3-2. TWU finished the final set hitting at .231 (7-4-13), while UBC finished the set hitting at -.067 (3-4-15).
NOTABLE
TWU finished the night hitting .318 (54-19-110), while UBC finished hitting at .177 (42-22-113).
The Spartans had a 14-3 edge in service aces.
UBC had the edge in blocks 10-7.
TWU’s current team ace record is 19, which was set on January 24, 2004, against Winnipeg.
Last week Trinity Western swept by the Thompson River WolfPack, 3-1 on both nights in Kamloops, B.C.
Last week UBC split with the Manitoba Bisons, winning 3-0 on Friday, and losing 3-1 on Saturday in Vancouver, B.C.
The Spartans are 60-26 lifetime against the Thunderbirds.
The Spartans have won 9 of their last 12 matches against the Thunderbirds.
TWU and UBC split their last conference series, November 25-26, 2022. The Spartans lost 3-0 in Vancouver, B.C., and won 3-2 in Langley, B.C.
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Thunderbirds will finish off the two-game home-and-home series tomorrow evening in Vancouver, B.C. Match time at the War Memorial is set for 7:45 p.m. and can be seen 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.