SPARTANS ADVANCE WITH SWEEP OF BOBCATS

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans finished the opening round of the Canada West play-offs with a perfect 3-0 record after sweeping the Brandon Bobcats 3-0 Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The Spartans did not drop a set in their three wins, winning 25-17, 25-18, 25-22 tonight. With the loss the Bobcats finish the opening round at 1-2.

Meaghan Mealey with 11 kills and three digs, Savannah Purdy with nine kills, nine digs, three blocks, and three aces and Ansah Odoom with six kills, six digs, four blocks and one ace led the Spartans. While Nicole Ashauer with seven kills, and 11 digs and Rayvn Wiebe with seven kills and 10 digs led the Bobcats. Olivia Heinen led the Spartan attack with 26 assists, while Jamie Bain led the Bobcats with 14 assists.

AS IT HAPPENED
The Bobcats had a strong start to the opening set. Brandon quickly jumped out to a 4-1 lead and led 15-10 just before the technical break. But then the Spartans found their groove. TWU took the next six points to go into the break with a 16-15 lead. Out of the break Trinity Western kept rolling as they outscored Brandon 9-2 to take the opening set 25-17. TWU hit at .429 (16-4-28), while Brandon hit at .000 (7-7-23).

Trinity Western jumped out to an early 8-4 lead to start the second set. From there the teams exchanged points as the Spartans led 16-13 at the technical timeout. TWU then improved their play to go on a 9-5 run to take the second set 25-18. TWU hit at .172 (10-5-29), while Brandon hit at .071 (7-5-28).

In the third set the Spartans again took an early lead, 6-3, to start the set. But the Bobcats rallied to tie the set at 11-11. At the technical break TWU held the two point, 16-14 lead. Out of the break the Spartans used a 4-1 run to build a five point, 20-15 lead. TWU maintained the lead at 22-18, but Brandon scored four of the next five points to make it a one point set, trailing the TWU 23-22. But the Bobcats would get no closer as the Spartans closed out the match taking the last two points and the match 25-22. TWU hit at .146 (13-7-41), while Brandon hit at .108 (8-4-37).

NOTABLE

• TWU is 24-6 lifetime in Canada West conference play against Brandon.
• The last time the Spartans lost to the Bobcats was when they fell 3-0 in Brandon on February 1, 2014. TWU has not lost to Brandon at home in the Langley Events Centre since a 3-2 loss November 14, 2009.
• TWU wins the pool with a perfect 3-0 record, while Calgary also advances at 1-2 winning the tiebreaker over Brandon and Fraser Valley.
• TWU finished the night hitting .237 (39-16-97), while Brandon finished the night hitting at .080 (23-16-87).
• The Spartans finished with eight blocks to the Bobcats seven blocks. TWU also had the edge in aces at 7-3.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
“Everybody comes out and wants to play us really tough. They served us tough and we had to figure out really quickly how they were serving us, and how we keep the ball on our side of the court so that we can put a good offence together and hit our standards in that area.”

“We had to adjust to a few things that they were doing attacking us. They have a few girls who throw and chuck the ball and we had to figure out their hitters and once we get a rhythm on that then we have a better chance to slow them down.”

“A lot of good efficiencies as a team, our middles did well our outsides did well. Ansah had a really good night. Setters did a good job distributing the ball and I thought Emma did a really good job on defence. We were getting a lot of volleyballs up so that we could get second swings on them.”

UP NEXT
The Spartans will now host week two of the Canada West play-offs. The Spartans will open up on Friday, March 11 at 6 p.m. against to be determined opponent. The game will be played at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C. All matches can be seen live on Canadawest.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 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.

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