WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL (CANADA WEST)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2013
TRINITY WESTERN (3) VS REGINA (1)
(20-25, 26-24, 25-19, 25-23)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CARPENTIER PACES SPARTANS OVER COUGARS 

LANGLEY, British Columbia – It was a slugfest between Regina's outside hitter Desiree Ates (Regina) and Trinity Western's outside hitter Sophie Carpentier (Ottawa) in Canada West women's volleyball Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The fifth year Ates ended with the higher kill total at 23 kills and .364 hitting, but second year Carpentier's 22 kills and .279 hitting were enough to lead the Spartans to a 3-1 victory over the Cougars.

The 20-25, 26-24, 25-19, 25-23 victory improves TWU to 6-4, while the loss drops Regina to 3-7. The Cougars had beaten the Spartans 3-0 on Friday night.

 "One of the strengths of our team is blocking. And we knew the specific things that we needed to do, and we didn't do it in the first set or in yesterday's match. It took us a little while to find the right rhythm and the right match ups. We moves Royal onto Ates and she did a very good job of containing her," said Hofer on his team's adjustments to get the win. 

Hofer commented on the two outside hitters. "Desiree is a player. She is one of the top outsides in the league and we needed to make adjustments to shut her down and our defense and block were able to do that. Sophie took some time to find her confidence and her rhythm and after the first set she got into a groove." 

"This win was important for us for play-off positioning and building our confidence. It was also important in our managing our athletes. We have a few players who are banged up, so for us to pull our bench strength together and get the win was big for us," added Hofer.

In addition to Carpentier TWU's Chelsea Tancon (Comox, B.C.) with 10 kills and five digs, Royal Richardson (Rocky Mountain House, Alta.) with nine kills and 12 digs had strong matches for the Spartans, while Cougars Tori Glynn (Prince Albert, Sask.) had 10 kills and nine digs for Regina.

The Spartans finished with a 20 to seven advantage in total team blocks. Leading the way for TWU were middles Casie Gano (Sundre, Alta.) with 11 blocks and Lindsay Dykman (Terrace, B.C.) with nine blocks.

The opening set was back-and-forth through the majority of the game. The Cougars led slightly, 16-15, at the technical timeout. Out of the break Regina opened up space with a 7-3 run. TWU closed to 23-20 and forced Regina into a timeout. The break worked as the Cougars took the next two point and the opening set 25-20. Regina's Ates was an immediate force for the Cougars as she opened the match with eight kills and five digs, while hitting .636. Chelsea Tancon led TWU with three kills in the opening set.

Trinity Western opened the second set with a 4-2 lead. Regina responded with a nine-to-two run to lead 11-6. The Spartans settled down and closed to 15-13, before the Cougars led 16-13 at the break. Regina continued to lead 19-17, but the Spartans gathered momentum to tie the set at 20-20. From there the teams exchanged points. TWU had three set points before evening the match at 1-1 with a 26-24 win. The Spartans got the second set win with impressive blocking as they finished with and eight to three blocking advantage.

The Spartans dominated the third set hitting .452 on their way to a 25-19 win. TWU's Carpentier started to take over as she finished the set with 10 kills. The Cougars started the set in control with a solid nine to five lead, but the Spartans took over from there. TWU tied it at 12-12 and went on to lead 16-13 at the break. The Spartans came out of the break and took the next four points to lead 20-13 before taking the third set and the 2-1 lead. Regina finished the set hitting at .222.

The fourth set was close early with the two teams tied at 8-8. Then TWU took over and used a nine to three run to lead 17-11. Regina closed 19-16 after Ates 21st kill of the night. The Cougars kept clawing and got to within one point trailing 21-20. The two teams exchanged points to make it 23-22 for TWU. Capentier gave the Spartans match point at 24-22. Ates answered for the Cougars to hold off the final point. But the night would finish fittingly on Carpentier's 22 kill to give TWU the set 25-23 and the match. 

The Spartans will now head to Winnipeg for the final two matches of the first semester. Trinity Western will be at the University of Manitoba on Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30. The Cougars will now head home to host the UBC Thunderbirds next weekend.

Match Notes: Libero Kristen Moncks (Standard, Alta.) led TWU with 20 digs, while setter Nikki Cornwall (Coquitlam, B.C.) finished with a career high 33 set assists… Leah Shevkenek (Calgary) led the Cougars attack with 40 assists… TWU finished hitting at .234 (52-19-141), while Regina finished at .150 (51-29-147)…

-TW-