SPARTANS RALLY OVER BOBCATS

LANGLEY, British Columbia – Led by fourth-year outside Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) with 16 kills, four blocks, and five digs the Trinity Western Spartans rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Brandon Bobcats Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 23-25, 25-23, 25-18, and 25-23 win improves the Spartans to 9-6, while the loss drops the Bobcats to 10-5.
After TWU took a 2-1 lead, the match looked like it was headed to a fifth set, with Brandon leading the fourth set 18-11, but Trinity Western rallied with a 12-3 run to take a 23-21 lead, before closing out the match with a 25-23 fourth set win.

Third-year middle Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.) with 10 kills, and three blocks, and second-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with nine kills, and five digs also had strong games for the Spartans. Paycen Warkentin with 12 kills, and 10 blocks, and Philipp Lauter with 11 kills, and three blocks led the Bobcats.

Third-year setter Anselm Rein ran an efficient attack for the Spartans finishing with 42 set assists. Brandon’s J.J. Love finished the night with 37 assists for the Bobcats.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
Brandon came out strong to start the match and quickly led 5-0. TWU took a timeout and countered with an 11-3 run to lead 11-8. The Bobcats closed the gap and tied the Spartans at 14-14. From there it was side-out ball to 19-19. Brandon got some distance at 23-20, before taking the opening set at 25-23. TWU hit at .037 (8-7-27), while Brandon hit at .158 (9-6-19).
 
The second set was even early, but the Bobcats looked to be on their way to at second set win lading 16-13 heading into the final stages of the set. The Bobcats maintained the lead to 21-18, but then the Spartans took over taking seven of the last nine points to even the match with a 25-23 win. TWU hit .353 (17-5-34), while Brandon hit at .207 (12-6-29).
 
After playing even to 11-11, TWU gradually took control of the third set. The Spartans led 16-12, and 21-17, before closing out the set with a 4-1 run to take the set 25-18 and a 2-1 set lead. TWU hit at .370 (13-3-27), while Brandon hit at .111 (10-7-27).
 
The fourth set was all Brandon early. The Bobcats led 7-3, 13-7, and 18-11. But then the Spartans took over outscoring the Bobcats 14-5 to take the fourth set 25-23. The Spartans were impressive in the final set on attack hitting at .591 (15-2-22), while the Bobcats hit at .259 (12-5-27).
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Adam Schriemer
“I thought what turned it around was we were able to be cleaner in the high ball phase. We were earning some knock-outs but as the game went on we were able to get some more blocks. I still thought we got blocked too many times, but Brandon is the best blocking team in the country, so we have to expect that a little bit. We always talk about what a tough team looks like and part of being a tough team is executing and doing your job and playing clean volleyball. Sometimes you have to be a tough team because you’re not playing well and you have to grind through it. I like that we were a tough team today, but we want to be a tough team because we’re consistently playing good, clean volleyball. I think that’s the challenge. By the end of it we found it, but I thought it just took too long to find it.”
 
“In that fourth set, I thought we were chasing aces at the start. We lost the terminal serve battle at the start of the game. Once we were able to get a hold of a couple of their tough serves and then earn some knockouts, that was it. Ben Pike came in and went two for one, Slammer came in and went two for one and then Corn had that run that made it close. I thought we earned some knockouts and converted them, whereas at the start of the set, we were too terminal in the serving phase.”
 
NOTABLE

• TWU finished the night hitting at .327 (53-17-110), while Brandon finished at .186 (43-24-102)
• Brandon had 15 team blocks, while the Spartans had six.
• TWU finished with a 29-28 advantage in digs.
• Last week the Spartans had a weekend sweep of the Manitoba Bisons, 3-1 on Friday, and 3-0 on Saturday in Winnipeg, Man.
• Brandon, was off last week, but in their previous matches in Calgary on January 5-6 the Bobcats swept the Dinos 3-0, and 3-1.
• The Spartans are 31-15 lifetime against the Bobcats.
• The last time the Spartans lost to the Bobcats was 3-0 in Brandon last February 18.
• TWU is 9-2 over the Bobcats in Canada West conference and playoff action since defeating the Bobcats 3-0 in the U SPORTS championship in Laval on March 17, 2019. TWU had lost 3-2 in the CW conference championship the previous week in Brandon, Man.
• The Spartans met the Bobcats twice in the U SPORTS gold medal match, winning both 3-0, on March 17, 2019, and March 6, 2011, in Langley, B.C.

UP NEXT
The Spartans and Bobcats will finish the two-game series tomorrow night in Langley, B.C.. The match is set for 6 p.m. (PT) start, and can be seen live on Canada West TV.

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.
 
-TW-