SPARTANS WIN 7TH STRAIGHT WITH THREE-SET WIN OVER WOLFPACK

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Trinity Western pushed its record to 10-1 in the regular season with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-14, 25-16) win over Thompson Rivers Friday at the Tournament Capital Centre.

The win also extended the Spartans winning streak to seven matches. The setback on home court sees TRU’s record drop to 1-12.

Savannah Purdy (Victoria) had a team-leading nine kills, as well as two aces for the Spartans, with Mikayla Benterud (Sherwood Park, Alta.) adding eight kills and one ace. Olivia Heinen (Abbotsford, B.C.) guided the offence with 24 assists to go with a pair of aces.

The WolfPack’s Brooklyn Olfert had eight kills, while Hadley Schmidt had a team-high 17 assists.

The Spartans hit .397 as a team while committing just five attacking errors all night. TWU held the WolfPack to a .090 hitting percentage.

TWU finished the night with a 6-3 edge in blocks and an 8-4 advantage in aces.

AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans were the better team from outset, going on an early 5-1 run to open a 9-5 first-set lead that laid the foundation for the rest of the night. A kill from Purdy eventually gave the Spartans the set with a nine-point advantage.

In the second set, it was an 8-0 run that turned the tides in the Spartans favour, with TWU taking a 17-8 lead. A 6-1 set-ending run – capped by a Kirsten Kampman (Chilliwack, B.C.) kill – saw TWU take the middle stanza by 11 points.

As was the case in all three sets, TRU took the first point of the third set, but that was the only lead the home side ever held. Hitting .440 in the set, TWU rolled to the win.

NOTABLE
•    TWU has swept the WolfPack in all three meetings this season, having held TRU under 20 points in eight of nine sets.
•    The Spartans last, and only, loss of the regular season this year was Nov. 27 against UBC.
•    Since falling to UBC, TWU has only lost two sets in seven wins, including two-set weekend sweeps of UBC, UFV and UBC Okanagan.

UP NEXT 
The Spartans and WolfPack will meet again Saturday at 3:45 p.m. back at the Tournament Capital Centre.

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-