Brodie Hofer (Langley) had a whopping 17 kills and hit .609 to go with three aces to lead the Spartans on a night when TWU hit .431 as a team.
Derek Epp had 37 assists to guide the offence, while middle Jackson Howe (Calgary) had seven kills while hitting .545, and earning four blocks.
The Spartans play Alberta in the U SPORTS Championship final in a rematch of the Canada West final, which the Spartans won in four sets on home court last Saturday night.
Jonathan Portelance contributed 25 assists in a losing cause for Sherbrooke. The Vert et Or hit .258 as a team.
With Sherbrooke leading 20-14 in the first set, the Spartans rallied with Jesse Elser (Calgary) at the serving line. The third-year outside served the Spartans to a set-clinching 11-0 run. He tallied two more points to start the second set to cap what was 13 straight TWU points. From there, the Spartans held off the Vert et Or to win the second set, before TWU’s offence found its groove in the third set, hitting .706 as a team on route to the win.
The Spartans play Alberta in the U SPORTS Championship final in a rematch of the Canada West final, which the Spartans won in four sets on home court last Saturday night.
With the win, Trinity Western advances to play Alberta on Sunday at 4 p.m. CT (5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT) in the gold medal game, while Sherbrooke will take on Calgary for bronze on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT).
Mikasa Top Performers Presented by Nike Team
Sherbrooke: Julien Vanier
Trinity Western: Brodie Hofer
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The match with the Vert et Or marked the Spartans first-ever meeting with Sherbrooke at the naitonal championship tournament.
The Spartans will be targeting their fourth national championship in the last five seasons, having won 2016, 2017 and 2019.
TWU and Alberta have played each other eight times at the national championship tournament, with both teams winning four matches apiece.
The Spartans have beat the Bears in their last two meetings at nationals, with TWU winning in the semifinals in 2016 and in the final in 2017.
The Bears and Spartans are 2-2 all-time in U SPORTS championship finals.
TWU is 3-0 this season against Alberta, earning a pair of preseason wins before ultimately beating Alberta in the Canada West final.
With their regular starters on the floor, TWU has won 22 straight matches. The Spartans have only lost once this year with their starters on the floor against North American university competition (Nov. 16 – 3-2 loss against Long Beach State).
“I was really frustrated. That wasn’t our best game. I think that’s always a huge amount of credit to our opponents. They just made life really uncomfortable. They made us play in a way that we didn’t want to. That’s why they made us play that way because if we play the way we want to play, we’re really good. If we play the way they want to, they’re really good. It was a seesaw back and forth and that’s why there were so many runs. When one team imposed their system or style on the match, it swung in their favour. We wanted to play bump, set, spike, bang and they wanted to be really good with skill and speed and ball control. It was just a really hard battle of contrasting styles. We knew this was a really tough opponent, partially because of how good they’ve been playing and partially because of their style. It’s just not how we want to play the game. We train a certain way and that is not how they play.
On Jesse Elser’s serving run in the first set
“This is what makes Jesse so special. He is the foundation for everything that we do. He deals with slop in the front row and he has to grind high balls all the time. He’s a great pipe hitter, so he gets his swings there, but he has to create opportunities for this team in all the hard ways – receiving tough serves, defence and blocking their opposites. He has a yeoman’s job and he’s just incredible at what he does. Our team has had a lot of success and Jesse doesn’t get enough credit for it. It was super awesome to watch him serve us back into that match. Without that run, I don’t know what we’re talking about right now. I just thought Jesse showed his class and his variability in how he plays the game. We rely on him so much to be that steady force for us who we can always rely on. That’s him as a person and that’s him as a player.
On playing Alberta in the final
“It was a collision course all year. We saw them early and we know what they have on their roster and we know what their staff is like and, my gosh, they’re playing great. They’ve upgraded a lot since last week. The stuff they’re doing this week is a lot better than what we saw last week. I will not sleep tonight. I will be wide awake thinking about how well they’re playing. It’s hard to beat a good team twice in a row and we’re going to have to do that in back-to-back weeks. Thank goodness we have awesome kids and awesome players and I know we’ll be up for the task. It’s the way it should be – Bears-Spartans.”
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