Langley – Trinity Western’s men’s volleyball team, who is No. 1 in the opening U SPORTS Top 10 rankings, will take on some of the very best NCAA Division I teams, starting Wednesday, as the defending national and conference champion Spartans travel to California to play Pepperdine, USC, UCLA, Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara.
The trip will see the Spartans take on four teams who were ranked amongst the top eight in last year’s final NVA/AVCA Division I-II Men’s Coaches Poll, including UCSB (#3), Pepperdine (#5), UCLA (#6) and LBSU (#8).
The last time TWU played against NCAA competition, the Spartans won all three games of the 2019 Can Am Volleyball Holiday Showcase in Toronto, beating Long Beach State (3-2), UCLA (3-0) and Lewis University (3-0).
TWU owns an all-time record of 23-19 against NCAA opponents.
The Spartans are 11-0 against university competition this fall, including 9-0 in the preseason and 2-0 through the first weekend of the Canada West regular season. Prior to the Spartans Canada West based preseason schedule, TWU also represented Canada at the Pan-American Cup in the Dominican Republic, with the Spartans putting together a 5-2 record to capture the silver medal.
TWU has won three of the last four national championships and four of the last five conference championships. Over the last five competitive seasons, TWU has won seven of a possible nine banners, including their four Canada West championships and three U SPORTS championships. TWU has won five of the last nine national championships and five of the last 10 conference titles.
Outside of TWU representing Canada as an entire team in the Pan-American Cup this year, the Spartans had a whopping 15 players, both past and present, don international uniforms this past summer, including in the Olympics, the Volleyball Nations League, the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, the NORCECA Championships and the U21 World Championships.
SCHEDULE
Nov. 10 vs. Pepperdine – 6 p.m. (PT)
SAC Tournament
Nov. 12 vs. UCSB – 7 p.m. (PT)
Nov. 13 vs. USC – 11:30 a.m. (PT)
Nov. 13 vs. UCLA – 4:30 p.m. (PT)
Nov. 14 vs. Pepperdine – 7 p.m. (PT)
Nov. 15 vs. Long Beach State – 6 p.m. (PT)
Nov. 16 vs. Long Beach State – 6 p.m. (PT)
TWU’S ALL-TIME RECORD vs. NCAA DIV. I OPPONENTS
BYU – 2-2
Cal State Northridge – 1-1
George Mason – 0-1
Lewis – 2-2
Long Beach State – 3-1
Pacific – 3-1
Pepperdine – 3-4
Purdue Fort Wayne – 2-0
Stanford – 0-1
UC Irvine – 0-1
UCLA – 4-2
UC Santa Barbara – 1-2
USC – 2-1
