SASKATOON – A combined 27 kills between Maryn Boldon (Okotoks, Alta.) and Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) wasn’t enough for No. 1-ranked Trinity Western on Friday as the Spartans fell 3-1 (25-20, 23-25, 21-25, 22-25) to Saskatchewan at the Physical Activity Complex.
The Spartans (13-2) seemed to have control of Friday’s match early on, but the Huskies (7-8) rallied back, winning three highly contested sets after TWU’s roll in the first.
Boldon and Odoom earned 14 and 13 kills respectively to highlight TWU’s performance in the match. For the Huskies, it was Julia Howell-Bourner who earned the most kills, making 10 on a hitting percentage of .368. Overall, errors hurt the Spartans in the match by making 30 attacking errors and 13 service errors.
AS IT HAPPENED
TWU held off a surge by the Huskies after claiming a 24-18 lead in the first set, closing the frame out at a 25-20 line.
The Huskies answered back in the second set, earning a 25-23 second-set victory.
The Spartans struggled in the third set, hitting .045 in the third set, conceding the third set of the match to the Huskies (25-21).
Saskatchewan closed out the match in yet another close set, outscoring the Spartans 6-3 in the final stages of the match to earn a 25-22 fourth-set victory, and their seventh win of the season.
NOTABLE
This is TWU’s first time losing two in a three-game span since Jan. 25-26, 2019, when the Spartans were swept by UBC.
The Spartans are 35-18 all-time against the Huskies, holding a 7-3 record over Saskatchewan in their last 10 matches.
UP NEXT
The Spartans rematch the Huskies at 3 p.m. CT on Saturday.
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, as well as women’s and men’s disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.