SPARTANS EARN WIN WITH DRAMATIC COMEBACK

LANGLEY, British Columbia – After dropping the first two sets the No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans pulled off a dramatic comeback to defeat the Brandon Bobcats 3-2 in Canada West play-off action Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 23-25, 27-29, 25-14, 25-14, 15-10 win gives the Spartans a 3-0 record in pool play, while dropping the Bobcats to 2-1.

Brodie Hofer with 19 kills, five aces, three digs, and two blocks for 25 points, Jesse Elser with 10 kills, for aces, three digs, and two blocks for 15 points and Mathias Elser with 10 kills, 12 assists, four digs, and four blocks for 13 points led the Spartans. Philipp Lauter was dominant for the Bobcats, finishing with 21 kills at .517, with eight digs and three blocks for 23.5 points. While Jens Watt added 10 kills, seven digs and two blocks for 11 points.

AS IT HAPPENED
The Bobcats had a strong start to the match and took an early 8-6 lead over the Spartans. The two sides were evenly matched, then with Brandon leading 10-9 the Bobcats were able to score six of the next nine points to lead 16-12 at the technical timeout. Brandon expanded their lead to six points, 20-14 before Trinity Western mounted a comeback. With the Bobcats leading 23-16 the Spartans rallied to cut the deficit to one point with a 7-1 run to trail 24-23. But TWU could not even the set as Brandon took the next point to take the opening set 25-23. TWU hit .259 (12-5-27), while Brandon hit at .440 (15-4-25).

Again in the second set the two teams were even with TWU up 8-7. From there the Spartans looked to take control and led the Bobcats by five points, 16-11, at the technical break. Out of the break Brandon slowly chipped away at the TWU lead until the Bobcats tied the set at 23-23. Brandon fended off three TWU set points before finally taking the set on their second set point attempt 29-27. The Spartans hit at .324 (16-5-34), while the Bobcats hit at .321 (15-6-28).

The Spartans had a better start to the third set. TWU jumped out to a three point, 8-5 lead, before taking a 16-10 lead at the technical break. The Spartans continued to control the set closed to within one set with a 25-14 win. TWU hit .526 (11-1-19), while Brandon hit .000 (6-6-20).

The fourth set was even early with TWU holding 7-6, and 11-10 leads. However, the middle part of the set belonged to the Spartans as TWU jumped out to a 16-12 lead at the technical break. From there the Spartans rolled, as they outscored the Bobcats 9-2 to take the fourth set 25-14. TWU hit .500 (13-2-22), while Brandon hit .222 (8-4-18).

The final set was even through to the changeover with TWU holding the slight one point lead, 8-7. Then with the Spartans leading 9-8 TWU went on a 4-1 run to take a 13-9 lead and control of the final set. The Bobcats got to within three points, 13-10, but could not close as the Spartans finished the comeback to win 15-10. TWU finished the night hitting .571 (9-1-14), while Brandon hit .000 (5-5-14).

NOTABLE

• TWU is 18-10 lifetime in Canada West conference play against Brandon.
• The last time the Spartans and the Bobcats met in the post season was in a best of three series in February 2020, when TWU defeated Brandon 2-1.
• The Spartans and the Bobcats of met two times in the U SPORTS gold medal match, 2011 and 2019, with TWU winning both matches 3-0.
• The Spartans finished the night hitting .405 (61-14-116) while the Bobcats hit at .229 (49-25-105).
• TWU had 10 blocks to Brandon’s six. TWU also had a 12-3 edge in service aces.
• TWU wins the pool with a perfect 3-0 record, while Brandon also advances at 2-1 record.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Josephson
“If we want to finish the season the way we want to, we have to win games when things aren’t going our way. I walked into the huddle [after going down two sets] and my direct quote was ‘we’re going to find out a lot about ourselves tonight’. One of our mantras is that we’re here to play five sets, if our opponents don’t want to that’s not our problem. Clearly, our opponents came to play five sets. They were incredible. That [Phillip] Lauter kid is something else, we spent a lot of time trying to stop him. They were leaning on their serves, spiking off our edges, changing speeds, and passing nails. We were delivering really tough serves, but they kept it right on the three-meter line. They were so true to their identity tonight, and that is all credit to their staff. When your team plays right to their character and identity, that’s when you know you have a team dialed in. They had to be tough, passionate, and have good ball skills – which they did. They were really hard to play against.”

“Grant Wilson is one of my favourite coaches to coach against because their prep is awesome, they’re toughness, and the energy they play with. That’s why we’ve always had these epic battles with Brandon over the years. They had us dead to rights, but our guys had just enough character to get the third set. We’re bigger, so we can play tired at a higher level. They’re smaller, so you can see the level of emotion they play with. We haven’t been under that kind of pressure since L.A., and it was cool to see that our guys still had toughness. We’re going to need that – and more moving forward.”

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 8 p.m. against the Saskatchewan Huskies. The game will be played at the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford, B.C. Then on Sunday the Spartans will host the Calgary Dinos at 4 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre. Brandon will head to the University of Alberta for their round two games. 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.

-TW-