LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans remain unbeaten in the post season and will host the Canada West Final Four after a 3-0 sweep of the Calgary Dinos Sunday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. With the 25-21, 25-18, 25-16 win the Spartans win their pool and the right to host Final Four having the best league record.
Brodie Hofer with 11 kills, four digs and one block for 11.5 points, Jackson Howe with eight kills, and four blocks for 10 points, and Mathias Elser with eight kills at .615, seven digs, one ace, and 16 assists for 10 points led the Spartans. While Hamish Hazelden with nine kills, and four digs for nine points, and Lincoln Baines with seven kills, led the Dinos. TWU’s Derek Epp finished with 23 set assists and three kills to run the Spartan offence, while Tomas Sorra finished with 20 set assists to lead the Dinos.
AS IT HAPPENED
The two teams were even in the early going of the first set. TWU and Calgary were tied at 8-8, but the Spartans were able to take a 16-13 lead into the technical break. But the Dinos quickly tied the set, 16-16, by taking the next three points. The two teams sided-out to 19-19, when the Spartans took over the set. TWU scored three straight points before taking the opening set 25-21. The Spartans opened the match hitting .294 (16-6-34), while the Dinos hit at .267 (11-3-30). The Dinos had a 3-1 edge in team blocks, while the Spartans has a 2-0 edge in service aces.
The Spartans and Dinos were once again even to the midpoint of the second set. The Dinos trailed the Spartans by a slim single point, 14-13, when Trinity Western took over the set. TWU extended their lead to three point, 16-13 at the technical time-out, but after the break it was all Spartans as TWU outscored the Dinos 9-5 to take the second set 25-18. TWU hit a solid .600 (14-2-20), while Calgary hit at .500 (11-3-16). The Spartans had three team blocks, while the Dinos failed to register a block. TWU also had a 2-1 edge in service aces.
Trinity Western came out strong to start what would be the final set. The Spartans quickly doubled up the Dinos leading 5-2 and 10-4, before taking a 16-8 lead technical break. TWU extended their lead to 20-10, before taking the set 25-16 and the match 3-0. In the final set of the night TWU hit at .500 (14-0-28), while Calgary hit at -.048 (6-7-21). The Spartans had a 4-0 edge in team blocks and a 1-0 edge in service aces.
NOTABLE
- TWU is 35-23 lifetime in Canada West conference play against Calgary.
- The last time the Spartans lost to the Dinos was a 3-1 loss on February 26, 2016 in Calgary.
- TWU last lost to Calgary at home was January 22, 2011 when they fell 3-0.
- The Spartans finished the night at .439 (44-8-82), while the Dinos finish at .224 (28-13-67).
- TWU finished with five aces to Calgary’s one ace. The Spartans also had the edge in blocks 8-3.
- TWU wins the pool with a perfect 2-0 record, while Calgary also advances at 1-1 record.
- This will be TWU’s 11th straight Canada West Final Four appearance: five gold, four silver, one bronze.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Josephson
“They made it real hard on us in the first set, and we made a few mistakes, but they were aggressive mistakes. We made mistakes trying to score points, but that is volleyball. And I thought we cleaned up a lot of those things.”
“We played two really great sets and then we got up in the third and lost focus. Simply put, the standard is the standard, it doesn’t matter who the opponent is or what the score is. We have a standard of behavior and play that we expect our players and coaches to compete at and we fell below that standard in the third set. I’m pumped that we get to play the final four in our own gym and I’m pumped that the results were there. The standard wasn’t met for the whole match, so the pursuit of that continues.”
“The only thing that makes me more fired up is if they were bad teammates, but they were great teammates the whole match. Volleyball play will go in and out, and coaches will get grumpy. But they are really great teammates and that is what makes great teams.”
Hosting final four
“It’s the dream when you set out. There is a road map to the season, earn home berths. The longer you sleep in your own bed and play in your gym the easier it is to play well. It doesn’t mean you will, but the odds are best when you are comfortable.”
Calgary Head Coach Rod Durrant
“I think they played really well. They put a lot of pressure on us from the service line. And I don’t think we were able to maintain our serve receive and you have to be really solid to play against that block. You need to be on, and were weren’t as good as we were yesterday. We will learn from it and we will get better.”
On returning to the Final Four
“We get an opportunity to come back here next week and go against U of A in the first match and then we will go from there.”
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now host next week’s Canada West. Coming to the Langley Events Centre looking to win a Canada West title and a berth at the U SPORTS championship are the Alberta Golden Bears, the Brandon Bobcats, who finished 1-2 in Pool B, and the Calgary Dinos. TWU will play at 6 p.m. on Friday, with second match at 8 p.m. All matches can be seen live on Canadawest.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 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.
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