LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans held off a determined Fraser Valley Cascades to earn a 3-1 victory in Canada West men’s volleyball action Thursday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. the 25-16, 25-22, 22-25, 25-16 win improves the Spartans to 5-0, while the loss drops the Cascades to 0-5.
Brodie Hofer (Langley, B.C.) with 17 kills and 10 digs, Isaiah Olfert with 14 kills and Jordan Schnitzer (Surrey, B.C.) with 10 kills led the Spartan attack, while Nimo Benne (Castricum, Netherlands) with 13 kills and Caleb Kastelein (Langley, B.C.) with seven kills led the Cascades. TWU’s Hofer and Derek Epp (Saskatchewan) and UFV’s Eduardo Ferreira (Rio de Janeiro, Barzil) all finished with 10 digs.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans and Cascades were even through the early part of the opening set with UFV trailing 9-8 after a kill from Graham Walkey (Prince George, B.C.). The middle section of the set was all TWU as the Spartans went on a 7-2 run and led 16-10 after a Mathias Elser (Calgary) service ace. The Spartans maintained the margin throughout the remainder of the set as they took the opening game 25-16.TWU finished the set hitting .500 (11-2-18), while UFV finished hitting .333 (11-3-24). The Spartans sided out at 93 percent, while the Cascades sided out at 60 percent. TWU’s Jackson Howe (Calgary) and Isaiah Olfert (Winnipeg) each had four kills, while UFV’s Benne had six kills in the opening set.
In the second set the Cascades matched the Spartans for the entire set. TWU led 16-15 at the media break, but UFV stayed close and were even with the Spartans at 20-20. However, Trinity Western finished the set strong with a 5-2 run to take the set 25-22 and a 2-0 lead in the match. The Spartans attack percentage dropped significantly in the second set at TWU hit at .111 (12-9-27), while UFV also struggled hitting at -.059 (4-5-17). Hofer led TWU with four kills in the set, while Benne added another two kills to his totals for UFV.
The third set was all UFV early as the Cascades jumped out to a 7-3 lead, before leading 16-11 at the media break. The two teams exchanged points then with an extended rally the Spartans closed the gap to 19-16 after Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.) and Derek Epp blocked Eduardo Ferreira. Which resulted in UFV calling a timeout to slow the Spartans rally. Out of the timeout the Spartans continued to apply pressure and closed the gap to a one point, 23-22 after Hofer and Howe blocked UFV’s Caleb Kastelein. TWU could not get closer as UFV took the next two points and the set 25-22 after a kill off of the Spartans block by Nimo Benne. The Spartans and Cascades both hit at.375. TWU was (17-5-32), while UFV was (14-2-32). Hofer added to his totals with seven more kills in the set, while Eduardo led the Cascades with four kills in the set.
TWU led the fourth set 6-3 in the early going, but put together a 10-5 run midway through to take a 16-8 lead at the media break after a Howe middle attack. The Spartans continued to hold the margin as the match wound down. TWU led 24-12 and were set to close out the set, But UFV held of TWU for four straight points before Brodie Hofer closed out the match with a cross court attack to make the final 25-16 for the Spartans. Giving TWU the match 3-1.
NOTABLE
Tonight’s match is the first time the Spartans and the Cascades have met in Canada West conference action.
The Spartans finished the night hitting .342 (56-18-111) while the Cascades finished at .208 (37-15-106)
TWU had seven service aces to UFV’s single ace.
Setter Derek Epp (Saskatoon, SK) led the Spartans with 33 set assists, while Jonas Van Huizen (Langley, B.C.) led the Cascades with 32 assists.
Tonight’s match was originally scheduled to be played at UFV in Abbotsford, B.C.
QUOTABLE TWU Head Coach Ben Josephson
“They made us earn our points throughout the match tonight and the ball control things that we have been struggling with this semester cost us a lot of points in the second and third sets.”
“The way the Cascades played in the third set was great. They punished us for ball control things and sloppy patterns, they made very few errors and they made us play the ball and earn our points in that set. Our kill numbers were high, when you get 17 kills and loose a set it just shows how clean your opponent plays and how few errors they had. That usually should be enough. But credit to them really be clean and execute in the third set.”
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Cascades will match up again tomorrow evening with the final matches of the fall semester. Match time at the Langley Events Centre is set for 8 p.m. The match 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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