LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western improved to 2-0 to start the Canada West regular season, completing the weekend sweep of Thompson Rivers with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-15, 27-25) win Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
Coming off a convincing win, the two-time defending Canada West champion Spartans rolled to a second straight three-set victory, as they are now 8-0, including preseason in 2021-22.
Savannah Purdy (Victoria, B.C.) had a match-high 11 kills for TWU to go with seven digs, while Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) added seven kills. Olivia Heinen (Langley, B.C.) had 27 assists to help TWU to a .329 hitting percentage. Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.) had a match-high five blocks.
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Erin Mutch had a team-high seven kills for TRU, while Siobhan Toal had two blocks and two aces to lead the WolfPack.
AS IT HAPPENED
After winning all three sets on Friday night by at least eight points, the Spartans carried momentum into Saturday’s contest, taking the opening set 25-13 while hitting an errorless .381. TRU countered with a .000 hitting percentage, with nine kills.
The second set was more of the same, with TWU securing the set by 10 points while holding the WolfPack to a negative hitting percentage (-.167).
With TWU utilizing its bench, the WolfPack pushed back in the third set, earning a shot at set point, at 24-23. However, a gutsy rally from the Spartans evened the set at 24-24 and from there, TWU tallied three of the next four points to win the set.
QUOTABLE TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
“I think it’s great that we have the depth that we can put on a different lineup tonight than we did last night and still maintain a really good vibe out there and compete really well. I like the mindset that the team has right now and I thought we competed hard tonight.
“It’s a little bit dangerous to be down and think you can come back every time, but that third set showed a little bit of grit. It required us to dig deep, to get a little lucky and to fight hard. When we do that and we play good volleyball and everyone did their job, cool things happen.
“Savannah is a rock for us out there. She takes high volume on serve receive and she takes high volume on the attack and was great tonight. Also, I think our middles all did a good job tonight and brought a lot of energy.”
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 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.