WVB: Spartans Take Heat in Three

LANGLEY, B.C. – No. 1-ranked Trinity Western defeated UBC Okanagan 3-0 (25-22, 35-33, 25-21) at the Langley Events Centre on Thursday, taking a 1-0 lead in the Canada West quarterfinals.
 
Savannah Purdy (Victoria) had a strong showing, leading the Spartans to victory by making a team-high of 14 kills. UBCO’s Amaya Perry posted the highest tally of kills in the match, making 16 on a hitting percentage of .467. Perry added two aces and seven digs to round off a strong stat-line.
 
Both sides hit the ball well, but the Spartans held the edge in the opening match of the quarterfinal series, hitting .304 as a team to narrowly edge past UBCO’s .298 hitting percentage.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
After the Spartans gained a 13-9 lead early in the first set, both sides jostled for an upper hand in the set. As the set headed into its latter stages, a pivotal block by Spartans outside Ansah Odoom gave the hosts a 20-15 lead, which eventually led to a 25-22 set victory. Five kills from Savannah Purdy led the way for TWU, while Amaya Perry’s tally of four led the Heat.
 
The second set took its time to come out of its shell offensively, but the end of the set found both teams locked at 20-20. Two blocks from Mikayla Benterud [Clay] in crucial spots of extra points gave the Spartans a boost, leading to a 35-33 second-set victory. Another 10 kills from Perry stood as the high in the set.
 
The Heat were the first team to assert themselves in the third set, holding a 17-14 lead partway through the frame. Still, the Spartans refused to back down, completing an 11-4 run to take the third, and final set of the match (25-21).
 
QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach
“We have two really good teams playing great volleyball this weekend, so the efficiency numbers were quite good for both teams. I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like that. We expected great volleyball, so we knew that UBCO was going to bring nothing but that to us. It’s going to be a fun weekend.
 
“I thought there were moments where we rose to the occasion. Emma [Gamache] making the right dig at the right time, Ansah [Odoom] and Kaylee [Plouffe] making a big kill, Dora locating the ball, we just needed to be consistent, and I thought we did a good job of that tonight.
 
Steve Manuel – UBCO Head Coach
“I think we played very well tonight, and I really liked our passing. We made a few too many errors at unfortunate times, and that was the difference of the match. A team like [TWU] won’t make few mistakes, so if a couple errors going our way it would’ve been a different game. Looking forward to tomorrow.
 
“Our two left-sides, Amaya Perry and Jade Bussard, were very solid. Sydney Grills is always a force on the right-side too. We need to be an even-keeled team, so the three of them carrying the offensive load combined well with our passers tonight.”
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans hold a 28-6 all-time edge over the Heat, winning 12 straight in the matchup.