SPARTANS FALL TO VISITING UFV IN HOME-OPENER

LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western lost to Fraser Valley 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20) in the Spartans home-opening match Friday at the Langley Events Centre. 
 
TWU’s Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) had a match-high 16 kills while Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) added 13 kills for the home side. Spartans setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) had 39 assists in the loss. 
 
For the Cascades, who beat the Spartans for the first time in their program’s history, Jonas Van Huizen had a team-high 13 kills while Nimo Benne added 11 kills. Ryan Hampe had five blocks to lead all comers at the net, while Max Paddock had 31 assists. 
 
Statistically speaking, the Cascades hit. .306 as a team, while holding the Spartans to a .229 hitting percentage. 
 
AS IT HAPPENED 
Both teams started the match running efficient offences, with TWU hitting .444 in the first set and UFV hitting .421. The second set was the opposite with both offences struggling, as TWU hit .143 and UFV hit .115. The tide turned in the Cascades favour in a major way in the third set, with UFV hitting a whopping .450 and the Spartans hitting .000. 
 
The final set was close until the late stages, when UFV went on a run to pull away. With the score tied 16-16, UFV took off on a 6-2 run to open a lead they would take to the end of the match.
 
QUOTABLE
Adam Schriemer – TWU Head Coach
“The biggest difference tonight was that UFV was committed to all of their actions and we were super tentative and safe and scared. If you play safe and scared in Canada West, you’re going to lose regardless of who you’re playing. That’s the biggest lesson we learned, whether that was with our serve, reception, blocking, spiking and high balls. If you’re not aggressive with your opportunities to spike, you’re not going to earn points. They made way more plays like that then we did.”
 
NOTABLE
·       The Spartans are now 8-1 all-time against UFV. 
·       Prior to the match, the Spartans raised their U SPORTS championship banner from 2022-23. 
·       TWU and UFV met earlier this year in a preseason match in September, with the Spartans winning in three.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Cascades will play in the rematch Saturday at 6 p.m. (PT) at the Langley Events Centre.
 
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 and women’s and men’s disc golf. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 14 U SPORTS team championships and 33 Canada West team championships.
 
-TW-