LANGLEY, British Columbia – Led by an all-round performance from third-year middle Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.), with 12 kills, .667 percent, seven blocks, and two aces, the Trinity Western Spartans swept the UBC Okanagan Heat 3-0 Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The win keeps the No. 2 Spartans perfect at 5-0, while the loss drops the Heat to 3-2.
Second-year outside Maryn Boldon (Okotoks, Alta.) added 12 kills, and five digs to the Spartans attack, while second-year Sydney Gill (St. Catherines, Ont.) finished the night with 27 set assists to go with five digs for TWU. Amaya Perry and Olivia Tymkiw with eight kills each led the Heat attack, with setter Lexi Prefontaine finishing the night with 23 assists for UBC-O.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Heat jumped out to an early 10-5 lead to start the match and maintained the lead to 22-17. But the Spartans would go on a 5-0 run to tie the set at 22-22. After exchanging points to 24-24, TWU took the final two points and the opening set 26-24. TWU hit .419 (15-2-31) and UBC-O hit .214 (11-5-28) in the opening set.
The two teams were even in the second set to 9-9. But from there it was all Spartans as TWU used a 14-5 run to take a 23-14 lead. After the Heat took a point the Spartans finished the set 25-15. TWU hit at .320 (11-3-25), while UBC-O hit at -.161 (7-12-31).
The Spartans carried the momentum into the final set, leading 12-8 and 17-10. The Heat closed the gap to four points, 21-17, but they were unable to get closer. The Spartans held off the Heat rally and took the next three points to get to match point, 24-17. UBC-O took the next two points before TWU closed out the set 25-19. TWU hit an impressive .484 (18-3-31), while UBC-O hit .500 (11-1-20) in the final set.
QUOTABLE TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
“Full props to UBC-O and how they serve the ball and the percentage of in-balls that they make us play. We needed to figure out where they were going with their serves and how to track them and get their serves up so that we could play them.”
“We needed to clean up a few things on our side of the net from the first set. We were leaking points everywhere, whether it be blocks or serve receive and we needed to be better defensively. Once were able to get those things cleaned up and force them to play volleyball it put us in a better position.”
On Kaylee Plouffe:
“I can’t say that I have had too many middles in the years that would lead in even attempts and kills. And Kaylee is proving that she can take a heavy load on this team and she can put a lot on her back and carry us.”
NOTABLE
TWU finished the night hitting at .414 (44-8-87), while UBC-O finished at .139 (29-18-79).
The Spartans dominated at the net, out-blocking the Heat 8-3.
UBC Okanagan finished with eight service aces, while Trinity Western finished with six.
Last week Trinity Western defeated Winnipeg 3-1, and 3-0 in Winnipeg, Man.
Last week UBC Okanagan defeated Mount Royal 3-1 on both nights in Calgary, Alta.
The Spartans are 30-6 lifetime against the Heat.
The last time TWU lost to UBC-O was 3-1 on October 28, 2017 in Langley, B.C.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will finish the weekend series with the Heat tomorrow evening at 4 p.m. (PT). The match from the Langley Events Centre 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.
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