EDMONTON, Alberta – Meeting in their fourth straight Canada West championship, and 101st time in their storied history, the No. 8 Trinity Western Spartans fell to the No. 2 Alberta Golden Bears 3-1 Friday night in the Main Gym at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. The 25-19, 14-25, 25-21, 25-21 victory earns the Golden Bear their second straight conference title and their 15th overall Canada West championship. TWU, who have won seven conference titles and defeated Alberta in 2021-22, will go to next week’s national championship as the No. 2 seed out of Canada West.
Fourth-year outside Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) with 17 kills, five digs, three blocks, and two aces, and first-year outside Piers de Greeff (Victoria, B.C.) with 12 kills, six digs, and two aces led the Spartans. Isaac Heslinga with 23 kills, and nine digs, and Jacob Sargent with six kills led the Golden Bears.
TWU second-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) led the Spartan attack with 35 assists, to go with four aces for the Spartans. Sam Drybrough led the Golden Bears with 32 assists, 10 digs, and four aces.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Golden Bears had a strong start to the match taking an early 7-3 lead, but the Spartans recovered to tie the set at 10-10 after an ace by de Greeff. Leading 18-17 the Bears were able to take the next two points to expand their lead to 20-17 after a TWU attack error and sent the Spartans into a timeout. Alberta continued to control the opening set as they closed it out with a 5-2 run to earn a 25-19 win and a 1-0 lead in the match. TWU hit at .269 (13-6-26), while Alberta hit at an impressive .545 (13-1-22).
TWU responded in the second set as Rein led the Spartans to an early 4-1 lead. The Spartans maintained their lead, 11-7, and sent the Golden Bears into a time-out after de Greeff and third-year middle Jackson Corneil (Surrey, B.C.) blocked Alberta’s Liam Espedido. The Bears took another timeout after a Rein service ace gave the Spartans a 13-9 lead. The Spartans continued to roll and after a block and another Rein ace had built their lead to six points, 15-9. TWU finished off the set with a 10-5 run and evened the match at 1-1 with the 25-14 win. The Spartans improved their hitting to .316 (8-2-19), while the Golden Bears dropped to -.103 (6-9-29).
Alberta and TWU were even at 4-4 when the Bears took four straight points to lead 8-4 after Grayden Wiebe and Jacob Sargent blocked Rempel. The Spartans narrowed the deficit to two points, 16-14, after a Bears attack went long. Alberta recovered and regained their four-point, 19-15, and sent TWU into a timeout after back-to-back kills by Heslinga. Out of the timeout, TWU got two points back and trailed 19-17, and pushed Alberta into a timeout of their own. The break settled the Golden Bears as Alberta took the second set 25-21, to lead 2-1 in sets. TWU finished the set hitting .222 (11-5-27), while Alberta improved to .355 (14-3-31).
In the final set the Spartans and Bears were even after eight points, but from there Alberta was able to 9-6 lead and put TWU into a timeout. The Golden Bears extended their lead to six points, 18-12, but TWU rallied and cut the Alberta lead to three points, 21-18, as the Bears took a timeout to cool off the Spartans. Trailing 23-21, TWU had a tip go just wide as Alberta held off the Spartan rally to take the next point and the set 25-21, and the match 3-1. In the final set TWU hit at .121 (11-7-33), while Alberta hit at .160 (9-5-25).
. QUOTABLE TWU Head Coach Adam Schriemer
“Going into this game and being on the road we knew it would be tough and we needed to be super tough and resilient, and together, and I thought that we were that tonight. We had opportunities tonight, but we didn’t make plays when it mattered the most and that is why we lost. And the challenge going forward is that when the game is on the line we have to execute at a higher level if we want to give ourselves an opportunity to win.”
“Tonight it felt like there were sections in every phase that we were really, really good. And then there were sections where we missed a lot of opportunities. I think that the inconsistencies in every phase made that game kind of exhausting mentally.”
“I really liked our setups and how stable we were on everyone but Heslinga. It is rare that you see such a dominant performance, but he is the player of the year for a reason and he didn’t slow down tonight.”
NOTABLE
The Spartans finished the night hitting at .219 (43-20-105), while the Golden Bears finished at .224 (42-18-107).
Both teams finished with nine team blocks, while TWU had a 10-4 edge in service aces.
Alberta finished with a 33-32 edge in team digs.
This championship is TWU’s 12 straight Canada West championship appearance, and fourth straight against Alberta. It is the Golden Bears fourth straight CW final and fifth in the last six years.
This is the 10th time that the Spartans and Alberta have met for the right to hoist the Costa Chrysanthou Trophy and earn the Canada West championship banner.
TWU and Alberta have faced each other 13 times in the Canada West postseason, including two semifinals, and two bronze medal matches.
The Spartans are 7-7 all-time against the Bears in Canada West postseason play, with Alberta’s seven wins coming in the championship final.
Last year the Golden Bears defeated the Spartans 3-1 to win their 14th conference title. TWU, who has seven conference banners, would go on to win last year’s U SPORTS championship.
Last week the Spartans defeated the Winnipeg Wesmen in the best-of-three series 2-1, winning 3-0 on Thursday, losing 3-0 on Friday, and winning 3-0 on Saturday at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.
In their semi-final series Alberta swept the UBC Thunderbirds 3-0, and 3-0 at home in Edmonton, Alta.
In their last conference weekend series, November 10-11 in Edmonton, the Golden Bears and Spartans split with each other with each winning 3-1.
The Spartans and Golden Bears have combined to win 13 of the last 17 U SPORTS titles. They’ve even faced off five times in the U SPORTS final, most recently in 2022 when Alberta bested the Spartans in a rematch of that year’s Canada West championship. The Golden Bears are nine-time national champions, while Trinity Western won its seventh U SPORTS gold medal last year.
The Spartans are 35-66 lifetime against the Golden Bears. TWU’s 100 matches with Alberta are the most against any U SPORTS team. TWU and Alberta are 4-6 over their last 10 meetings. The Spartans are 23-27 against the Bears in their last 50 Canada West conference and post-season matches.
The Spartans are led by Canada West all-stars fourth-year outside Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) and second-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany). Rempel finished the season leading Canada West in kills-per-set (4.23), second in total kills (398), and fifth in aces-per-set (0.41). Rein was the top setter in the conference, leading Canada West in assists-per-set (10.29), and was also the leader in service aces-per-set (0.59).
The Golden Bears are led by Third-year outside hitter Isaac Heslinga who ranked first in Canada West this season with a .310 hitting percentage and led the conference during the playoffs with 101 kills and 5.32 kills per set. He was named a Canada West First Team All-Star.
TWU’s Anselm Rein is the current Canada West Men’s Volleyball Athlete of the Week.
The Spartans Piers de Greeff was voted the Canada West Rookie of the Year for 2023-24. De Greeff is the fourth Spartan to win the Canada West Rookie of the Year, following Chris Meehan 2001-02, Adam Schriemer 2013-14, and Eric Loeppky 2016-17.
UP NEXT
The Spartans and the Golden Bears will now travel to Kingston, Ont. for the U SPORTS championship, hosted by Queen’s University. The quarter-final matches will begin on Thursday with tournament draw and game times to be announced Sunday, March 10. All matches can be seen live on cbcsports.ca.
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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