VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The No. 5 Trinity Western Spartans had to settle for a weekend series split with the No. 6 UBC Thunderbirds after the Spartans fell to the Thunderbirds 3-1 Saturday night at the War Memorial Gym in Vancouver, B.C. The 25-22, 23-25, 18-25, 25-21 loss drops the Spartans to 4-2, while the win improves the Thunderbirds to 3-3.
Third-year outside John Obi (Winnipeg, Man.) with 17 kills, four blocks, and one ace, second-year outside Piers de Greeff (Victoria, B.C.) with 11 kills, and six digs, and third-year outside Kayden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with 10 kills, six digs, and one ace led the Spartans. While Dawson Pratt with 15 kills, three aces, tand two digs, and Gavin Moes with 12 kills, and two blocks led the Thunderbirds.
Fourth-year setter Ben Pike (Abbotsford, B.C.) led the Spartans offence and finished with 37 set assists, while Mason Greves led the Thunderbirds attack and finished with 49 set assists.
QUOTABLE Adam Schriemer, TWU Head Coach
“The biggest takeaway from tonight is UBC outlined that we need to be more consistent in every phase. Where that showed the most was in our offensive efficiency and mainly high ball and specifically with our serving and in-system block defence. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the weekend. We’re happy to get a split with UBC, but I thought we left a lot of opportunities on the table today. That’s frustrating, but we’ll now get ready to go play UBC Okanagan next weekend.”
UP NEXT
The Spartans now host the UBC Okanagan Heat on November 15-16 at the Langley Events Centre. Match time is set for 7 p.m. and 6 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Canada West TV.
NOTABLE
The Spartans finished the night hitting .313 (51-20-99) while the Thunderbirds hit at .449 (53-9-98).
TWU finished with four blocks, while UBC finished with 10.
Both teams had five service aces.
TWU defeated UBC 3-0 Friday night at the Langley, Events Centre in Langley, B.C.
The Spartans are currently 63-28 lifetime against the Thunderbirds. Last season the Spartans split with the Thunderbirds. Losing 3-2 in Vancouver, B.C. and winning 3-2 in Langley, B.C.
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.
About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in U SPORTS. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.