LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No.9 Trinity Western Spartans got the weekend sweep of the No. 1 Alberta Golden Bears, with a marathon five-set victory 3-2. The Spartans won 25-20, 25-23, 23-25, 21-25, 20-18 in a two-hour and thirty-six-minute match to improve to 9-5, while dropping the Bears to 11-3.
Third-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) was outstanding finishing with 23 kills, five blocks, and five digs to lead the Spartans. Also having a strong game was second-year outside Piers De Greef (Victoria, B.C.) with 18 kills, 12 digs, three blocks, and one ace.
Isaac Heslinga with 21 kills, five blocks, and three aces, Dylan Martens with 15 kills, eight digs, and three blocks, and Liam Espedido with 12 kills, 10 digs, and three blocks led the Golden Bears.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now head to Calgary next week to face the Calgary Dinos on Friday, January 24, and Saturday, January 25. Match times are set for 8 p.m. (MT) and 7:30 (MT) and can be seen live on Canada West TV.
QUOTABLE Trinity Western Head Coach Adam Schriemer
“Really happy with our start. We expected a pretty big response from them and they didn’t really come on how we were expected, but we were pretty sharp in every phase. I thought it was a tough game to build rhythm because they wanted to serve really aggressively, but they missed a lot. Once they started serving in, our offence, and struggled a little bit. As the game went on, no one was stopping anyone. It was just too efficient offenses and not a lot of good stuff in the blocking phase. I’m happy that we’re able to compete at a pretty consistent level for 10 sets against the top team in the country this weekend. ?
On the play of Kaden Schmidt and Cory Schroenherr.|
Kaden was awesome. With this lineup we had, we need him to score a lot and he’s going to get a lot of volumes. ?He had over 50 swings tonight and to hit .355. On that amount of attempts, it is really special. and he was clutch two nights in a row, especially with how he served and how he spiked close the game, really happy with him. Cory had a great weekend too. He was really, really effective at the net with his block play was exceptional. Alberta has elite spikers and are an elite spiking team, especially with Huslinga, and he had a lot of good looks on him all weekend.”? AS IT HAPPENED
Tonight’s match was very similar to Friday night’s five setter. TWU took the first two sets, Alberta responded to force a fifth set by staking two straight and the Spartans closed out he match with the fifth set win.
The Spartans were the better team in the opening set as they quickly led 11-6, and 16-8. The Golden Bears were never able to get close in the opening game as TWU won 25-20. TWU hit at .429 (11-2-21), while Alberta hit at .296 (11-3-27).
TWU carried the momentum into the second set and jumped out to a five-point, 12-7, lead. But the Bears responded and were able to tie the setup at 15-15 after a Trent Cherewaty kill. From there, the set was side-out ball with the two teams still tied at 23-23. The Spartans took the one-point lead on a Heslinga attack error and then Schmidt closed out the set with a service ace to give TWU the 25-23 win and a 2-0 set lead. TWU hit at .125 (11-7-32), while Alberta hit at .030 (8-7-33).
In the third set, Alberta was the better team early as they took a 16-12 lead midway through the set. TWU pushed back and was able to tie the setup at 18-18 after a Schmidt kill. The teams went back and forth from there until Alberta’s Dylan Martens finished off the set with back-to-back kills to give the Bears the set 25-23 and force a fourth set. TWU hit at .333 (11-2-27), while Alberta hit at .375 (16-4-32).
The Bears and Spartans were close the entire fourth set. There were six ties to 13-13. Then with the Bears up 16-15, Alberta went on a 4-0 run to lead 20-15. From there it was even play as the Bears forced a fifth set with a 25-21 win on an Espidido kill. TWU hit at .129 (13-9-31, while Alberta hit at .345 (13-3-29).
Early in the final set, it looked like Alberta was going to run away with the reverse sweep to take the match as the Bears took an early 6-2 lead in the match to 15. But the Spartans climbed back into the set and were able to tie the last set at 10-10. Then it was side-out for the next 18 points. With Kaden Schmidt hitting back-to-back kills to give TWU the 20-18 victory and the match 3-2. TWU hit at .385 (12-2-26), while Alberta hit at .360 (12-3-25).
NOTABLE
The Spartans finished the night hitting at .263 (58-22-137), while the Golden Bears finished at .274 (60-20-146).
TWU out-blocked Alberta 13.5-10
The Bears had the edge in service aces 7-6.
The Spartans beat the Golden Bears 3-2 Friday night as well.
TWU now sits in fifth spot in CW with 24 points, while Alberta remains in top spot with 35 points.
The Spartans are currently 37-69 lifetime against the Golden Bears.
TWU is 3-3 over the last six Canada West conference matches with the Bears.
The Canada West medal winners and host Brandon all have spots at this year’s U SPORTS championships.
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 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in U SPORTS. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
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