Toronto – Trinity Western put themselves in elite company across North American men’s volleyball as they rolled to a third straight win at Can Am Volleyball Holiday Showcase, beating No. 6-ranked Lewis University 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-16) to cap the tournament with a perfect record Tuesday at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre.
After edging the Flyers by just two points in the first set, TWU took it to another gear in the final two sets of the contest, cruising to back-to-back nine-point wins.
The victory secured a 3-0 record against their NCAA foes, as the defending U SPORTS champion Spartans knocked off No. 2-ranked UCLA (3-0) and the two-time defending NCAA champion and No. 4-ranked Long Beach State (3-2).
The event marked the first time in a decade that TWU has faced NCAA competition, with the Spartans winning nine of 11 sets against three of the top six programs in the United States.
TWU, who is ranked No. 1 in the U SPORTS Top 10, will stay in Ontario for three more exhibition matches, taking on Brock (Jan. 2) before back-to-back games against No. 4-ranked McMaster (Jan. 3-4).
NOTABLE
• TWU is now 2-2 all-time against Lewis.
• The Spartans are now 22-20 all-time against NCAA opponents.
• TWU head coach Ben Josephson is not at the tournament as he is currently with Canada’s senior women’s team as an assistant coach as the team prepares for the upcoming Olympic qualifying tournament.
• The Can Am Volleyball Holiday Showcase features four Canadian sides, with the University of Alberta, McMaster University and Ryerson University joining TWU against four high-profile NCAA teams, including Long Beach State, UCLA, Lewis and Ohio State.
• The last time TWU took on an American foe was in 2009-10, when the Spartans played both UCLA and the University of the Pacific at Calgary’s Dino Cup. TWU finished that year’s tournament with a 3-0 record against its NCAA opponents, beating UCLA once (3-0) and Pacific twice (3-2 and 3-0).
• The Spartans have previously played all three teams it faced at the Can Am Showcase, with TWU owning a 2-2 record all-time against Long Beach State and a 4-2 record against UCLA.
