REMPEL PUTS DOWN 23 KILLS IN 3-2 LOSS TO NO. 8 SASKATCHEWAN

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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