KINGSTON, Ont. –Led by second-year outside Kaden Schmidt’s (Mississauga, Ont.) career-best 22 kills the No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans rallied to defeat the No. 8 Guelph Gryphons 3-2 Saturday night at the Queen’s Athletics and Recreation Centre in Kingston, Ont. The 24-26, 25-23, 15-25, 25-21, 15-9 win sends the Spartans to the consolation final Sunday afternoon.
Fourth-year outside Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) with 15 kills, eight digs, and two aces, and first-year outside Piers de Greeff (Victoria, B.C.) with 11 kills, five blocks, three aces, and three digs also had strong games for the Spartans. Jonathan Pickett with 18 kills, 10 digs, and two blocks, and Cameron Chadwick with 12 kills, five digs, and four blocks led the Gryphons.
TWU second-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) led the Spartan attack with 46 assists, to go with seven digs and two aces for the Spartans. Thomas Pugsley led the Gryphons with 48 assists.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans and Gryphons were even early on in the opening set with the teams tied at 8-8. The Gryphons created separation midway in the set taking a 17-14 lead. TWU took the next three points and after a block of Chadwick by TWU’s de Greeff TWU had tied the set at 17-17. TWU was able to take a two-point lead, 21-19 after an ace by de Greeff, but Guelph came back to tie the set at 23-23. A kill by Schmidt gave the Spartans set point at 24-23, but the Gryphons were able to take the next three points, and after a kill by Chadwick had earned a 26-24 opening set win. TWU hit at .152 (12-7-33) in the opening set, while Guelph hit at .034 (10-9-29).
TWU had more control to start the second set, leading 9-6, but the set was all even by 16-16. At 18-18, the Spartans were able to get some space with a 4-1 run and after an ace by Rempel had built a 22-19 lead. Guelph crept closer but were unable to get even as Rein and third-year middle Jackson Corneil (Surrey, B.C.) blocked Guelph’s Pickett to end the second set for TWU 25-23 and even the match at 1-1. The Spartans hit at .312 (16-6-32), while the Gryphons hit. at .370 (14-4-27).
The Griffins came out on fire in the third set and used a 4-0 and 5-0 run to take an early 13-5 lead. Trailing by eight TWU outscored Guelph 8-4 to trial the Gryphons 17-13. Guelph took the timeout and out of the break, outscored TWU 4-0 to increase their lead back to eight points, 21-13. From there the Gryphons rolled to a 25-15 third-set win to take the 2-1 set lead. TWU struggled on the attack hitting at -.083 (7-9-24), while Guelph improved to .385 (7—2-13).
Guelph carried their momentum into the fourth set and built an early 12-8 lead. But TWU found their blocking game and after third-year middle Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.) and Schmidt blocked Guelph’s Pickett had built a 19-16 lead with an 11-4 run. The teams exchanged points to 22-20 for TWU. Back-to-back kills by de Greeff gave TWU set point at 24-20. A TWU service error by Rein gave a point back to Guelph, but Rempel finished the set with a kill off the block to give TWU the 25-21 win and force a fifth and deciding set. TWU had their best attacking set of the match hitting at .400 (17-3-35), while Guelph hit at .300 (14-5-30).
Rein got the Spartans off to a strong start with an ace and three straight points to give TWU a 3-0 lead and force Guelph into a timeout. The Gryphons struggled with their serve and the Spartans were getting aces as TWU built their lead to five points, 8-3, at the change over. The teams exchanged points with the Spartans leading 11-6. Guelph called a timeout trailing 12-7 after de Greeff blocked Pickett. De Greeff was at it again as he blocked Alexander Odle to give TWU a 13-7 lead. Kaden Schmidt finished the comeback for the Spartans with a cross-court kill to give TWU the final set 15-9 and the match 3-2. TWU had continued their attacking improvement hitting .444 with zero errors (4-0-9), while Guelph struggled at .071 (5-4-14).
NOTABLE
The Spartans finished the night hitting at .233 (56-25-133), while the Gryphons finished at .230 (50-24-113).
TWU had a 13-11 edge in total blocks, and a 7-6 edge in service aces.
Both teams finished with nine team blocks, while TWU had a 10-4 edge in service aces.
Guelph finished with an impressive 43-29 advantage in digs.
Tonight’s match was the first-ever match between TWU and Guelph at the national championship.
Trinity Western is now 5-0 against Guelph in program history.
The Spartans now have an overall record of 39-11 at the National Championship.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will play on Sunday against Laval Rouge et Or. The game will be at 1 p.m. ET and can be seen live on CBCSports.ca.
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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