LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 5 Trinity Western women's volleyball team won its sixth match in a row as it knocked off No. 6 Calgary in decisive fashion, winning 3-0 (25-21, 25-20, 25-16) Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

With a balanced attack that saw five players earn at least four kills, the Spartans rallied from early deficits in both the second and third sets to take the first match of the two-game weekend series.

The Spartans (9-4) iced the win with a convincing third set in which TWU won by nine points and hit .321 as a team. For the Spartans it was their first three-set win on home court since an opening-night victory over Thompson Rivers.

TWU was led by Sophie Carpentier (Ottawa), who had 10 kills and three service aces while Alicia Perrin (Creston, B.C.) had six kills to go with four blocks. Katelyn Devaney (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) had five kills and a match-high five blocks.

For Calgary (8-5), it was Jaylynn Moffatt leading with a team-high nine kills and four blocks while Beth Vinnell added six kills while hitting .455.

The Dinos came into Friday's match as the most efficient offensive team in the conference, but the Spartans held Calgary to a .062 hitting percentage on the night. As a team TWU also had 9-7 blocking advantage and a 6-1 edge in aces.

"I think our serving was our strong point tonight," said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer. "We needed to keep this team off the net. When this team is in system, they're tough to beat. That's why they have the highest efficiency in the conference. So we worked to keep them off the net and let our block do the work."

The Spartans got off to a quick start in the opening set as they built an 8-4 lead and never trailed the rest of the way. The Dinos closed to within one point, at 14-13, after a Moffatt block, but TWU quickly reestablished a five-point lead with four straight points. From there, the Spartans, with four aces to their credit, cruised to a 25-21 win.

The second set saw Calgary jump out to a 5-1 lead, but TWU responded with an 11-3 surge to take a 12-8 advantage. After that, TWU kept rolling and with the Spartans up 22-20, they scored the final three points of the set, including a winning kill from Carly Hamilton (Calgary) to win by five. After going without a block in the first set, TWU earned seven blocks in the second set to pace the home side.

"Calgary is a really good offensive team and they have a great setter who runs a great game," Hofer said. "They've got a lot of patterns that we have to figure out and manage. With that, it took us a little bit of time to get going. They did a good job of avoiding our block early on and we had to figure it out."

Similar to the second set, the Dinos opened an early lead in the third set, going up 5-2, only to see TWU bounce right back with eight straight points. With a 10-5 lead, the Spartans took control of the set and ran pulled away late, winning 25-16. The Spartans hit .321 in the set, which was their most efficient set of the night. TWU also held Calgary to a -.062 hitting percentage over the final set.

"Those third sets can be tough," Hofer said, referencing the Spartans early deficit. "They went on a bit of a serving run and with us, we needed to sideout and just get going."

The teams will play the rematch Saturday at 5 p.m. at the LEC. Saturday's match will also be TWU's last game of the fall semester.

Game Notes: Former Spartans outside Amber Brown, who is playing out her fifth year of eligibility with Calgary as she pursues an MBA, was in the building sporting Dinos colours, but didn't play due to injury…after losing four straight, TWU has now earned six wins in a row, including three wins in three sets.
 
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