LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western continued to roll in Saturday’s Canada West tilt against the UBC Thunderbirds, defeating the visiting team 3-1 (25-18, 25-23, 19-25, 25-15) in front of their home crowd at the Langley Events Centre.
Mathias Elser (Calgary) posted an incredibly well-rounded line of stats, tossing six kills, seven assists, four aces, and six digs into the mix. Elser’s offensive efforts were not only impressive, but incredibly efficient as well as the second-year’s hitting efficiency ended at 45.5 percent. Brodie Hofer (Langley, B.C.) also bore a large offensive responsibility for the Spartans, putting down 13 kills through all four sets played on Saturday.
On UBC’s end, Matt Neaves and James Vincett were stellar, completing 11 and 10 kills apiece. Vincett’s efforts were enough to lead the Thunderbirds in points with 13.
AS IT HAPPENED
The first set found UBC’s Matt Neaves put forth a dominant attacking performance, carrying the Thunderbirds to a 10-9 game in favour of the Spartans. Still, the strength of the home team was far too much as TWU outscored the Thunderbirds 15-9 for the remainder of the set, riding a Jesse Elser (Calgary) serving run to cruise to a 1-0 lead.
The Spartans were quickly greeted by a highly energized UBC team in the second set. With both teams at four points apiece, the Spartans turned up the heat, moving to a 17-9 lead. Although TWU had UBC on their heels, the Thunderbirds rallied back to make things interesting thanks to a James Vincett serving run of five. With UBC threatening, Jackson Howe (Calgary) and Brodie Hofer (Langley, B.C.) put down two crucial kills to put the Thunderbirds at odds.
In the third set, UBC surged early off of a series of errors from the Spartans. With the set tilting in favour of the Thunderbirds, stellar serving from Matt Neaves and crucial blocking from Gerard Murray put the home team at a 13-19 deficit. The Spartans were unable to take a stronghold on the set, handing UBC a 25-19 set victory.
After a set was taken by the Thunderbirds, the Spartans answered back, coming out to an early 6-0 lead thanks to Mathias Elser’s (Calgary) tough serving, and a barrage of kills from Brodie Hofer. The Spartans continued to roll, ending the game at a 3-1 victory in favour of the home side.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Josephson
“It was a game of thirds. We were great in the first third; we played clean, served tough, passed well, and our sideout play looked the way we wanted it to. We got sloppy in the middle third of the game, giving them some free rhythm. They made a substitution at setter which seemed to change the entire game for them. He made a couple blocks and sets, sparking their whole team to catch fire. It was a combination of us not taking care of the ball in some situations with them played really well.
“We found our rhythm again in the final third. When teams are playing that emotional in the way they play you just have to hold the wave. We told our guys that they’d have to push back when the wave slows down, and that came from Mathias Elser’s serving run to start the fourth set. They didn’t play well yesterday or in the first set and a half, but this team we saw in the last 2.5 sets was the one we expected. It was big-boy volleyball. Really good athletes and national team players were all over the court. The last 2.5 sets was good volleyball, we were just happy to be given some free ones early in the game.
NOTABLE
- Nov. 22nd, 2019 was the last time in which TWU lost to UBC at home. The Spartans fell 3-1 at the hands of the Thunderbirds. Since then, the Spartans have won four consecutive games against the Thunderbirds.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will split a series between the Langley Events Centre and the Envision Financial Athletic Centre on Dec. 2nd and 3rd against Fraser Valley.
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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