Men’s Volleyball
Trinity Western’s men’s volleyball team opened the Canada West Playoffs in perfect fashion Thursday, defeating Mount Royal in straight-sets (25-17, 25-16, 25-19) at the Langley Events Centre.
The defending national champion Spartans, which finished this season atop the conference standings with a 20-2 regular season record, will go for the series sweep Friday (8 p.m.) at home.
Jacob Kern (Edmonton) led the Spartans on attack, hitting .474 while contributing a game-high 10 kills and five digs. The Spartans also got seven kills apiece from Pearson Eshenko (Banff, Alta.) and Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.), while setter Derek Epp (Saskatoon, Sask.) added 31 assists.
Visiting Mount Royal were led by outside hitter Chris Byam, who added a team-high nine kills along with four digs. Keal Prince had the lone service ace in the match for the Cougars, while Luis Lange added six kills.
After taking the opening point in the first set off a Jesse Elser (Calgary) ace, TWU wouldn’t look back as it held the lead for the entirety of the set before winning it 25-17. The Spartans hit .381 in the set, with Kern adding four kills and Epp adding 10 assists. Mount Royal’s Byam had three kills and three digs apiece in the opening set.
The Cougars then kept pace with the Spartans to open the second. After falling behind 2-0, Mount Royal would match TWU as the set went on to sit back just a single point at 10-9. TWU would then pick up four consecutive points with Loeppky at the service line, taking charge and winning the second set 25-16. The Spartans hit .500 (12-2-20) in the second while Mount Royal hit .179 (10-5-28).
After both teams traded points evenly through the 16 points at 8-8, the Spartans broke out offensively to score 10 of 14 points to take an 18-12 lead. TWU would then close out the match with a 25-19 third set victory. Trent Mounter had three kills for the Cougars in the set, while Loeppky and Kern each adding three kills for the Spartans.
TWU hit .364 (33-9-66) in the match compared to Mount Royal’s .167 (27-15-72). The Spartans held a 10-1 edge in service aces.
Women’s Volleyball
The Trinity Western Spartans took Game 1 of the Canada West quarter-finals with a 3-1 (25-16, 25-12, 23-25, 25-17) win over Winnipeg Thursday at the Langley Events Centre.
Hilary Howe (Calgary) had 17 kills, three service aces and 14 digs for the defending conference champion Spartans, while Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) added nine kills while hitting .412. Dora Komlodi (Calgary) also contributed four service aces and a game-high 33 assists for the home side.
The Wesmen attack was led by Emma Parker, who had 17 kills while hitting .267. Parker, Kalena Schulz, and Haille Bujan each added two aces for Winnipeg.
The Spartans took the first two points and opening eight of 10 in the first set to take an 8-2 lead. Despite the Wesmen taking a timeout and crawling back within the game, TWU maintained its lead throughout the entirety of the set to win it 25-16. Spartans outside Howe hit.750 and contributed three kills, while Komlodi and Mikaelyn Sych (Airdrie, Alta.) each had two service aces.
Winnipeg once again trailed 2-0 to open the second set, as the Spartans started as dominantly as they did in the first to take a 19-9 lead. TWU would take six of the final nine points to take the second set 25-12. Avery Heppell (Langley) and Howe each contributed three more kills for TWU, while Winnipeg’s Parker brought her total up to six in the match.
Determined to keep the match going, Winnipeg came charging out to a 15-10 lead in the third set. The Spartans would then go on an 11-7 run to charge back into the set, but Winnipeg would hold on to take it 25-23 following a Spartans service error. Emma Gamache (Langley) had eight third set digs for TWU, while Parker added another seven kills for the Wesmen.
After TWU opened the fourth set with a 7-1 lead, Winnipeg struck back by scoring eight of 12 points to climb back to within two. The Spartans however would regain their form to take the fourth set 25-17 and win Game 1 on home court.
The Spartans hit .324 (48-15-102) compared to Winnipeg’s .085 (31-21-118).
