Huskies Stave Off Elimination, Defeat Spartans in Five-Sets to Set Up Game 3 Showdown

SASKATOON, Sask. – The Saskatchewan Huskies kept their season alive Friday night (Feb 28) on on home court by outlasting the Trinity Western Spartans in five sets, winning the marathon affair three sets to two (33-31, 23-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-10) and forcing a quarter-final deciding game three matchup tomorrow afternoon.

After having finished the regular season against each other, tomorrow’s pivotal battle will be the fifth straight meeting between the two clubs and will determine who gets the right to move on to the Canada West semi-final to take on the top seeded Winnipeg Wesman. 

Despite Saskatchewan being narrowly outpaced in both kills (68-64) and hit percentage (.329-.265), the Dogs gritty game two win came largely on the back of taking advantage of Spartan service errors with the visitors posting 26 faults from the line. 

Emmett Graham led the way for the Huskies as the First Team Canada West All-Star compiled a team-high 20.5 points on the back of 17 kills and a 24% attack efficiency. The local Saskatoon product also made his presence felt on defence by adding four total blocks to his standout performance.

Graham was joined by the veteran trio of Isaiah Mamer, Jefferson Morrow, and Jacob Baird who each enjoyed double-digit point performances, collecting 16.5, 15, and 14.5 points, respectively. Of the bunch, it was Mamer who made the most of his opportunities by converting on 30% of his 36 attacks, resulting in 16 kills for the third year hitter. Meanwhile, Morrow’s 14 kills and Baird’s 11 rounded out the bulk of the offense for the Dogs. 

From the Saskatchewan setter position, Noah Opseth provided an assist on 53 of the Huskies’ kills, nearly matching his season-high of 55.

For Trinity, much of the Spartan offence once again flowed through First Team Canada West All-Star Piers de Greeff and third year hitter Kaden Schmidt. After a massive game one performance, Schmidt followed up by collecting 23 kills enroute to a game-high 24.5 points. Meanwhile, de Greef added 24 points of his own and outpaced all hitters in kills with 23. 

After the two squads exchanged wins in the first two sets, the third saw the Huskies narrowly edge the Spartans 14-12 in kills while service and attack errors plagued the Trinity Western in the late stages of the frame, allowing Saskatchewan to take the set 25-21.

In the fourth, Trinity bounced back by dialing up their attack, converting 44% of their attacks into points and propelling the Spartans to a late 21-15 advantage. As the penultimate frame neared a close, a slew of service errors by both sides ultimately fell the way of the Spartans, as the visitors took the set 25-20. 

With Saskatchewan’s season on the line, the Huskies saved their best for when it mattered most. Powered by back-to-back blocks and a dominant kill from Jacob Baird, Saskatchewan charged to an early 4-1 lead. However, with the score now set at 10-7 in favour of Saskatchewan, back-to-back errors from the Dogs would inch Trinity within one, forcing the home-side to call a timeout and regroup. The reset worked for the Huskies as Baird and Mamer unloaded back-to-back kills, pushing the score to 12-9. As had been the Achillies’ heel for the Spartans all game, a critical late service error from de Greef helped set up match point for the Huskies. With game three in view, Mamer made no mistake issuing the game-winning kill, sealing the set 15-10 and extending Saskatchewan’s season by at least one more game. 

After the match, both head coaches were asked about how they plan to prepare for tomorrow’s decisive matchup. 

“Little bit more of a mental battle”, said Huskies’ Sean McKay. “Both teams know each other really, really well so I don’t think you’ll see too many changes. It’s just about putting out the best possible product you can and showing up on that day.”

“I think whatever we decide to do, we don’t have a lot of time to figure it out”, said Spartans’ Adam Schriemer. “I think [the] playoffs is more about how we’re playing as opposed to who we’re playing so we need to double down on our strengths.” 

Game three is set for tomorrow (March 1) at 3:00PM on Ron and Jane Graham Centre Court at the PAC.