LANGLEY, B.C. – In a match that saw all three sets decided by two points, No. 9 Trinity Western lost 3-0 (26-24, 30-28, 25-23) to No. 7 Mount Royal Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
In their first match since Nov. 25, the Spartans were bested late in all three sets, as they lost a three-setter for the first time this season. TWU dropped to 5-6, while the Cougars improved to 9-4.
Henry Rempel led the way for the Spartans with 13 kills, while rookie Piers de Greeff added nine kills for the home side. Cory Schoenherr, who returned to the lineup after missing the final two weekends of the fall semester with an injury, had five blocks to go with four kills out of the middle, while fellow middle Jackson Corneil also had five blocks for TWU. Anselm Rein had a match-high 28 assists.
MRU’s Chris Byam led the offensive charge for the Cougars, with 16 kills to go with three aces. Samson Olsen had a team-high 21 assists.
TWU had a 10-4 edge in blocks and a 6-4 advantage in aces, but were held to a .217 hitting percentage, while MRU hit .255.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Cougars raced out to a 9-4 lead in the first set only to have TWU roar back with an Aaron Elser serving run that put the Spartans head 10-9. TWU continued to push its agenda, taking a 15-10 lead, but the Cougars responded, chipping away at the Spartans lead until they tied it at 19-19. From there, the game see-sawed until Byam earned the winning kill.
The second set was more of the same with the Spartans holding an 8-4 lead and the Cougars responding to eventually take a 13-10 advantage. Similar to the first set, the teams were tied at 19-19. A back-and-forth end to the set saw MRU stave off two TWU set points before winning on a Max Haronga kill.
In the third set, once again the teams were level at 19-19 with the Cougars pulling away late by scoring three of the final four points. Haronga played hero again as he earned the winning kill.
QUOTABLE Adam Schriemer – TWU Head Coach
“I think the big difference is that after 20 points, their players made more plays than ours did. The nice part is that if we put ourselves in opportunities like that, we’re going to get better. We just need to get more comfortable playing in those close games because once it was late in the sets, we were a lot worse than our average. We also need to be a lot cleaner in transition and in high ball if we want to win. That’s why we haven’t had success this season and that’s why we didn’t have success tonight.
“I thought Piers was our most stable guy tonight. He passed well and he blocked well against a tough opposite. Byam is one of the best spikers in the league and he had a good handle on him. Piers scored for the most part and especially did so in some tough situations. Because of our passing, he didn’t get a lot of in-system balls, but he did well in high ball.”
NOTABLE
· The Spartans are 28-8 all-time against Mount Royal.
· TWU beat the Cougars in an exhibition match earlier this year (Sept. 30), winning in four sets.
· The loss was TWU’s first regular season setback against MRU since No. 27. 2015.
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Cougars will play the rematch Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre.
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 33 Canada West team championships.
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