KINGSTON, Ont. –The No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans will be headed to the consolation side of the U SPORTS championship draw after dropping an opening round thriller 3-2 to the host No. 5 Queen’s Gaels Thursday evening at the Queen’s Athletics and Recreation Centre in Kingston, Ont. The 25-17, 22-25, 17-25, 25-20, 14-16 loss marks only the third time in 17 appearances the Spartans have lost a quarter-final match at the U SPORTS men’s volleyball championship.
Fourth-year outside Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) with18 kills, three service aces, 11 digs, and two blocks, rookie outside Piers de Greeff (Victoria, B.C.) with 14 kills, hitting at .520, with two aces, and one block, and third-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with 11 kills, and two aces led the Spartans. Erik Siksna with 21 kills, and four blocks, Reed Venning with 14 kills, and two aces, and Zig Licis with 10 kills, six digs, and two blocks led the Gaels.
TWU second-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) led the Spartan attack with 41 assists, for the Spartans. Chris Zimmerman led the Gaels with 48 assists.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans were the more dominant team in the opening set. TWU had a two-point, 11-9, lead early, but blew the set open with a 9-3 run, including five straight serves and two aces from Schmidt, to take a 20-12 lead and push Queen’s into their second timeout. The teams played side-out ball from there as TWU took the opening set 25-17. TWU hit at .400 (12-4-20), while Queen’s hit at .154 (8-4-26).
Trinity Western started the second set strong with four straight points from the serving of Rein. But Queen’s responded with a 6-1 run to take a 6-5 lead and force the Spartans into a timeout. The Gaels expanded their lead to 14-11. The Spartans Rempel served TWU back into the set including two aces to five TWU a 16-15 lead and pushed Queen’s to take a timeout. The Gaels got the next point and then Venning caught fire from the end line to give Queen’s a 20-17 lead. TWU could not catch up as Queen’s sided out the set to take the set 25-22, and even the set at 1-1. TWU hit at .158 (9-6-19), while Queen’s improved to .455 (12-2-22).
Queen’s came out on fire to start the third set and quickly took a 7-1 lead, as TWU took an early timeout. The Spartans slowly got back into the set to cut the deficit in half, trailing 11-8. The teams exchanged points to 17-14 for Queen’s. The Gaels then took three straight points to get their lead back to six points, 20-14. The Spartans were unable to get closer as Queen’s took the third set 25-17, and a 2-1 set lead. TWU finished the set hitting .269 (11-4-26), while Queen’s hit at .480 (15-3-25).
The fourth set was side-out play to start. Then with the game tied at 4-4, de Greef used a serving run to give the Spartans a 6-4 lead. The Gaels eventually tied the set at 9-9 and then took a 13-11 lead. After regaining the serve trailing 14-12, TWU’s de Greeff put the Spartans in control with a 6-0 run to give TWU the 18-14 lead and control of the set. The Gaels were unable to get even as the Spartans took the fourth set 25-20 and even up the match at 2-2. TWU regained their attack hitting at .619 (14-1-21), while Queen’s hit at .421 (11-3-19).
In the final set, the Gaels took a quick 4-1 lead and led 8-6 at the changeover. The Spartans battled back to tie the set at 12-12 after a service ace by de Greeff. Queen’s got to match point at 14-12, but TWU got the next two and tied the set at 14-14 after a big block by third-year middle Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.) on Zig Licis. But a long serve and a Queen’s block Dax Tompkins on a Spartan tip gave the Gaels the next two points to take the set 16-14, and the match 3-2. TWU hit at .444 (5-1-9) in the final set, while Queen’s hit at .250 (7-4-12).
. QUOTABLE TWU Head Coach Adam Schriemer
“I’m super proud of our guys and their togetherness and their compete. They were down 2-1 in the national quarter final, and down 5-1 in the fifth set against the home team. I knew that they would come back and they did. That toughness that they had and the compete that they had was really cool to see.”
“I’m very proud of our left sides. Piers and Kayden learned a lot this year. And they are a first-year and a second-year starting in a national quarter-final and they were awesome. For those two guys to play that well in this situation was really exciting to see.”
NOTABLE
The Spartans finished the night hitting at .368 (51-16-95), while the Gaels finished at .356 (53-16-104).
Queen’s finished with a 10-7.5 edge in total blocks, and a 9-7 edge in service aces.
Both teams finished with nine team blocks, while TWU had a 10-4 edge in service aces.
TWU finished with a 30-25 advantage in digs.
At the national championship the Spartans are 3-1 against Queen’s and 3-1 at the Queen’s Athletics and Recreation Centre.
The Spartans now have an overall record of 38-11 at the National Championship.
This U SPORTS championship appearance is TWU’s 13 straight. The Spartans had made the final in the last seven championships, winning four gold medals.
This is only the third time in 17 matches that TWU has lost a quarter-final match. The only other team to beat the Spartans in the opening match is Western, who beat TWU 3-2 in 2013, and 2014.
The Spartans Piers de Greeff was voted the U SPORTS 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 will play on Saturday in the Consolation semi-final against the loser of Sherbrooke and Guelph. The game will be at 6 p.m. ET and 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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