SASKATOON –Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) led No. 4-ranked Trinity Western in a 3-2 loss to No. 8 Saskatchewan on Friday at the Physical Activity Complex on Friday.
The Spartans (11-4) struggled to find options after Rempel while the Huskies (10-5) got 43 kills from the trio of Dylan Mortensen (16), Levi Olson (15), and Jack McGeough (13).
Rempel’s 23-kill performance stands as a game-high, and a career-high for the third-year outside hitter. Rempel did all of his offensive work efficiently as well, achieving a hitting percentage of .436 on 39 attempts.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Huskies claimed the first set emphatically, besting the Spartans 25-14 on a team hitting percentage of .458.
TWU bounced back in a tight second set, narrowly edging Saskatchewan 25-23. The second set was also TWU’s most efficient one, hitting at an efficient rate of .423 compared to a more than respectable .387 posted by the Huskies in the set.
The Spartans held the Huskies at bay to take a 25-18 third-set victory. TWU held Saskatchewan to a team hitting percentage of .048 – which stood as the lowest throughout the match.
The Huskies roared back with a 25-17 victory in the fourth, posting the highest team hitting percentage in the game at .542.
A 9-4 Huskies lead was enough for Saskatchewan to hold on to, holding off a late TWU surge for a 16-14 set victory.
QUOTABLE Adam Schriemer – Co-Interim Head Coach
“That’s a really tough one – it hurts a lot. We were down 9-4 in the fifth set, and we’ve been talking a lot about the kind of team we want to look like regardless of the score. We had an awesome response by Henry [Rempel] at the service line coming out of the timeout, but we just couldn’t close it out. Saskatchewan is a great team – they put good pressure on us for the whole game. If we don’t play clean, they’ll make us pay – that’s what they did to us tonight. We were able to catch up, but it was just too late.”
NOTABLE
This is TWU’s first losing streak spanning three games since 2016. The Spartans got swept in back-to-back weekend slates against Alberta and Calgary spanning from Jan. 8-16, 2016.
The Spartans are 39-20 all-time against the Huskies. TWU’s last loss to Saskatchewan took place on Jan. 7, 2017 (3-0 L).
The Spartans have won eight of their last 10 matches against Saskatchewan.
UP NEXT
The Spartans rematch the Huskies at 5:00 p.m. CT on Saturday.
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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