KINGSTON, Ont. –In their final match of the year the No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans used a balanced attack to defeat the No 7 Laval Rouge et Or 3-1 Sunday afternoon in the Consolation Final at the U SPORTS championship at the Queen’s Athletics and Recreation Centre in Kingston, Ont. The Spartans, with five players with nine kills or better, defeated the Rouge et Or 26-24, 23-25, 25-16, 25-18 to finish the tournament 2-1 and remain unbeaten against Laval at the national championship. The victory was TWU’s 40th at the championship tournament since their first win in 2004.
Fourth-year outside Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) with 15 kills, six digs, three service aces, and one block, second-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with 12 kills, three blocks, and three digs, third-year middle Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.) with nine kills, and seven blocks, third-year middle Jackson Corneil (Surrey, B.C.) with nine kills, three blocks, and two ace, and first-year outside Piers de Greeff (Victoria, B.C.) with nine kills, eight digs, three aces and two blocks led the Spartans.
TWU second-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) led the Spartan attack with 51 assists to go with three digs, two aces, two blocks, and two kills. Charles St-Aubin led the Rouge et Or with 30 assists and two aces.
AS IT HAPPENED
Laval was the better team early in the set as they took an early 6-3 lead. TWU quickly tied the score at 7-7 after a Rempel kill. Laval again created separation to lead 17-13 after a Nicolas Fortin service ace. But again the Spartans responded to tie the set at 20-20 when Schmidt and Jackson Corneil blocked Fortin. The Rouge et Or got set point, 24-23 after Rempel’s attack went wide. The Spartans held off the set point and quickly got the even with a kill from de Greeff. TWU then took the next two points and the opening set with a service ace from Rempel and a kill from Schimdt to go up 1-0 with the 26-24 win. Both teams were impressive on the attack in the opening set. TWU hit .429 (19-4-35) in the opening set, while Laval hit at the same .429 (12-3-21).
The Rouge et Or came out strong to start the second set and used TWU errors to take an early five-point lead, 12-7 after a Fortin kill. After exchanging points Spartans responded with three straight points to pull within two points, 13-11, with a Schmidt kill. Schoenherr pulled the Spartans even at 16-16 with a kill and a block of Laval’s Jonathan Abby. Tied at 18-18 Laval took back control with three straight points and forced TWU into a timeout trailing 21-18. The Rouge et Or carried their lead to 24-20 with Jonathan Girad giving Laval four set points. TWU took the next three points to pull within one point, 24-23, but Laval’s Jonathan Abby got the point Laval needed to take the second set 25-23 and even the match at 1-1. In the second set TWU hit .233 (14-7-30), while Laval hit at .273 (11-5-22).
The Spartans dominated the fourth set. Rein served TWU to a quick 4-0 lead. The Spartans continued to roll through the middle part of the set and expanded their lead to eight points, 12-4 after a de Greeff service ace. Schoenherr put TWU up 21-10 with a middle attack as the Spartans continued to roll through the set. The Spartans got to set point with a Corneil kill in the middle to put TWU up 24-15. Laval held off on set point before a service error gave TWU the third set 25-16. TWU hit a solid .458 (13-2-24), while Laval hit at .100 (8-6-20).
Trinity Western carried their strong play into the fourth set and quickly took a 10-4 lead after Schoenherr found the floor. A kill from de Greeff gave TWU a 16-12 lead midway through the match. Laval worked their way back into the match to trail by three points, 18-15. Rempel held off the Rouge et Or comeback with a kill to put TWU up 22-17 and force Laval into a timeout. Corneil’s serves ace got TWU to set point at 24-18. The Spartans finished the set and the match with a Schoenherr and Rempel block to give TWU the set 25-18 and the match 3-1.
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QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Adam Schriemer
On better play after the first two sets
“I thought in the last two sets we got a little tougher to play against defensively. Our block D was able to clamp down on them a little bit. I think they were much less efficient in the last two sets and then combined with that I felt like they tried to up their pressure in the third and fourth set and we were able to handle it well, while maintaining our pressure from the first two sets. We got a little bit better on the block D phase and we were able to clamp down on the terminal serve phase as well while maintaining the offensive execution that we had the whole game.”
On the tournament
“It’s a super hard game to play in. We talked about playing with character and playing with pride. And we did that for nine sets this weekend after the tough loss we had Thursday night to Queen’s. Proud that we were able to respond and proud that we always play with pride with TWU on our chest.”
On Henry Rempel
“I’m really happy that we could finish this game off with Henry staying on the floor and Henry having a great game and being player of the match and finishing off his career with stuff block. That just makes this a little bit better of a tough situation that we were in.”
NOTABLE
- The Spartans finished the night hitting at .351 (56-16-114), while the Rouge et Or finished at .155 (34-21-84).
- Laval had a 12-10 edge in total blocks, while TWU had a 10-6 edge in service aces.
- TWU had a 28-27 edge in digs.
- The last time Trinity Western and Laval met was at 2019 championship in Quebec City. The Spartans prevailed over the home team 3-2.
- The Rouge et Or were the first team that Spartans ever met in the national championship tournament. TWU defeated Laval 3-1 in 2004 in the quarterfinals at Laval in Quebec City. The Spartans would go on to win the bronze medal.
- At the National Championship the Spartans are 6-0 against the Rouge et Or
- The Spartans now have an overall record of 40-11 at the National Championship.
- Only once in TWU’s 17 appearances at the national tournament have they not won at least two matches. In 2013 TWU finished 1-2.
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 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
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