LANGLEY, British Columbia – A balanced attack and a strong play in all phases led the No. 3 Trinity Western Spartans to a convincing 3-0 victory over the Brandon Bobcats Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 25-21, 25-9, 25-20 win moves the Spartans to 14-2, while the loss drops the Bobcats to 1-17.
Fourth-year outside Kristen Kampman (Chilliwack, B.C.) and third-year middle Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.) each finished the night with eight kills for the Spartans, with Plouffe adding four blocks, with second-year outside Maryn Boldon (Okotoks, Alta.) adding six kills and five digs, and third-year outside Grace McGillivray (Langley, B.C.) adding five, and three digs. Georgia Johnson with seven kills, two blocks, and one ace led the Bobcats.
Third-year setter Kendra Kern (Edmonton, Alta.) ran the Spartan attack and finished with 24 set assists, while Carly Thomson finished with 17 assists for the Bobcats.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans and Bobcats were evenly matched to start the first set and remained tied to 13-13. TWU took two straight points to lead 15-13, as Brandon called a timeout. Then with TWU leading 18-16, the Spartans went on a 5-0 run to lead 23-16. TWU got to set point at 24-17, but Brandon resisted four set points before falling 25-21 in the opening set. TWU hit at .217 (9-4-23), while Brandon hit at .172 (10-5-29).
TWU quickly took control of the second set and jumped out to an 8-4 lead. The Spartans then went on a 4-1 run to expand the lead to 12-5. TWU continued to roll, taking a 19-7 lead before closing out the set. 25-9. The Spartans hit an impressive .500 (10-1-18), while the Bobcats struggled at -.083 (4-6-24).
The Spartans carried their strong play into the third setting taking an early 10-5 lead. But the Bobcats responded with a 12-4 run to take a 17-14 lead. The Spartans quickly tied the set up and then played side-out ball to 19-19. From there TWU took over, taking the 25-20 and the match 3-0. TWU hit at .242 (11-3-33), while Brandon hit at .000 (11-11-40).
QUOTABLE TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
“We made some defensive adjustments tonight, which I thought went really well. We wanted to upgrade certain parts of our attacking, we wanted to force our opponents to play the ball, and I thought our attackers did a good job with that. Kern is getting better each game she plays, and her ability to deliver the ball really helps our offence get in place.”
“Our ace-error ratio was super high, I’d like our in percentage to be a little better. But loved players like Taryn Grandia (Aldergrove, B.C.) going in and instead of shredding us up in practice she gets to go against an opponent and show what kind of serve she has.”
NOTABLE
TWU finished the night hitting .297 (30-8-74), while Brandon finished at .032 (25-22-93).
The Spartans had a total of 12 team blocks, while Brandon had six team blocks.
TWU had 41 digs to Brandon’s 32. The Spartans also had an 8-3 edge in service aces.
The Spartans defeated Brandon 3-0 Friday night at the LEC.
The Spartans are 32-6 lifetime against the Bobcats.
The last time the Spartans lost to the Bobcats was 3-1 in Brandon on November 12, 2011.
TWU is on a 20-match winning streak in Canada West conference and playoff games against Brandon, 18-0 in conference play over that stretch.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will head to Kamloops, B.C. next weekend to take on the Thompson Rivers WolfPack on January 25-26. Match times at TRU are set for 5 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. and 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.