SPARTANS TAKE OUT COURGARS IN THREE

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans defeated the Mount Royal Cougars 3-0 in game two of the opening round-robin Canada West play-off match Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The Spartans 25-18, 25-15, 25-16 win improves TWU to 2-0 in the postseason, while the loss drops MRU to 0-2.
 
Brodie Hofer with 12 kills, Mathias Elser with nine kills, five assists, three aces and four digs and Jesse Elser with seven kills, and three aces led the Spartans, while Mark DeWit with eight kills and Luis Lange with six kills, two blocks and one dig led the Cougars.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans came out strong and quickly jumped out an 8-4 lead, which they extended to five points, 16-11 at the technical timeout. The two teams sided out for most of the final points before TWU took the opening set 25-18. TWU hit at .522 (14-2-23), while MRU finished at .241 (12-5-29).
 
Mount Royal had a better start to the second set as they played TWU even and were tied 7-7. TWU then took control of the set and outscored MRU 9-4 to lead 16-11 at the break. The Spartans continued to control their strong all-around play to the end of the set, winning 25-15.The Spartans hit at .391 (13-4-23), while the Cougars hit at .278 (7-2-18).
 
In the third set the Spartans took control early with a 5-1 lead. The two teams played side out to the break with the Spartans leading 16-11. The Spartans rolled from there to finish of the match with a 25-16 win. TWU hit .579 (13-2-19), while MRU hit at .222 (8-4-18)
 
NOTABLE

• TWU is 14-2 lifetime in Canada West conference play against Mount Royal.
• Last night the Spartans defeated Thompson Rivers 3-0, while the Cougars lost to Brandon 3-1.
• The Spartans finished the night hitting .492 (40-8-65), while the Cougars finished at .246 (27-11-65).
• TWU had eight total blocks to MRU’s two.
• The Spartans finished with 11 aces and 12 errors to the Cougars two aces and 13 errors.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Josephson
“The creativity that this team is playing with right now is something really special to watch. So anybody who gets to watch this team live is in for a real treat. There are probably more highlights in that match then what I’ve ever seen, it was fun.”
 
“We served the ball inbounds more often than yesterday, we spiked the ball inbounds about the same amount. Our opponent crushed us in the middle third of the court. If they passed they scored and if they didn’t pass they didn’t score. The nice part is that we didn’t miss a lot of serves. It was 10-8 in the second set and the game was tight and our servers laid into the ball and we had three massive runs and broke the game wide open.”
 
On preparing for a team you haven’t played:
“Anytime you play anyone it’s 80 percent you and 20 percent them. And that 20 percent only matters for the first 10 points and then after that everything is about adjusting and figuring out what they are doing and what you need to do. We spend far more time playing well on our side of the court then we worry about their side of the court. We control our half and we don’t control theirs.”
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will take on Brandon Bobcats in the final game of the round-robin play-off series. Game time at the Langley Events Centre is set for 8 p.m. PT. The Cougars will head to Abbotsford, B.C. to take on the Thompson Rivers WolfPack. Match time at the UFV Athletic Centre is set for 6 p.m. PT. 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.
 
-TW-