LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 5 Trinity Western women's volleyball won their seventh match in a row as they earned a comeback five-set win (17-25, 23-25, 25-19, 25-15, 15-13) over No. 6 Calgary Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.

While it looked like it would be Calgary's game early on after the visitors claimed the first two sets, the Spartans came back with back-to-back wins to force a fifth set.

And in the fifth set, the Micaylee Pucilowski (Kelowna, B.C.) show came to town as the first-year outside collected four kills and one block in the fifth set alone to lead TWU to the win. With the set tied 13-13, Pucilowski got a kill to set up match point and then Alicia Perrin (Creston, B.C.) finished the set with her 12th kill of the night.

"We were looking to bring people's strengths," said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer. "We were looking for an edge and Micaylee is a player who has been performing really well for us and Calgary hadn't seen her. We thought we'd take a chance and she went off."

The Spartans will now go into the Christmas break with a 10-4 record while Calgary, who will play Mount Royal next week, now sits at 8-6. TWU returns to the court Jan. 9-10 when it will travel to play Regina.

"We talked about what kind of tone we wanted to leave the semester with," said Hofer on his team's focus after losing the second set. "We wanted to leave it on a high. We wanted to leave it all out there and come back to the locker room having done everything you could to help this team be successful."

Spartans setter Nikki Cornwall (Coquitlam, B.C.) led the game with 53 assists as she guided TWU's offence to a .263 hitting percentage. Teammate Sophie Carpentier (Ottawa) led the Spartans and the match with 21 kills to go with two aces. Carly Hamilton (Calgary) had nine kills while Elly Wendel (Caronport, Sask.) had eight kills and two blocks. Libero Kristen Moncks (Standard, Alta.) had a match-high 17 digs.

"It's fantastic to have a team that is this deep," said Hofer, whose team had seven players with at least four kills. "Depth just makes your life a lot easier as a coach."

Janna Ogle led the Dinos with 20 kills and three aces. Teammates Kate Pexman and Jaylynn Moffatt both tallied 10 kills, with Moffatt also earning five blocks. Setter Jordhynn Guy had 43 assists, two aces, nine digs and three blocks.

TWU had a total of nine team blocks, compared to Calgary who had six.

The Spartans gained the first point of opening set, but the Dinos quickly moved passed them and controlled the rest of the set. The Dinos went on a six-point run midway through set and kept on rolling, ending the set with a convincing 25-17 win. The Dinos out-blocked the Spartans in the first set, with four blocks compared to TWU's one.

After starting the second set with some early back and forth play, a massive kill by Perrin moved the Spartans up 5-4. TWU led the set up until the two teams met at 8-8, when the score shifted in the Dinos favor. A kill by Hamilton moved the Spartans into the lead at 22-21. But with Calgary ahead 24-23, the Spartans were called for an illegal substitution and Calgary was granted the set-winning point as TWU was out of rotation on the subsequent rally. TWU gained three more blocks during the set, while Calgary added two.

The third set began with the Spartans out front, leading 4-0. Steadily putting distance between the Spartans and the Dinos, a kill by Perrin sent the teams into technical timeout with TWU leading 16-11. The Spartans won the set, having never trailed, 25-19. The Spartans outhit the Dinos for the first time in the game, hitting .278 percent compared to Calgary who hit .088 percent. The Spartans also made three blocks while the Dinos only tallied one.

In the fourth set, the Spartans came out again with an early lead, up 4-1. Much like the third set, TWU led 16-12 at the technical timeout. The Spartans took the set with a six-point run, 25-15. The Spartans once again outhit the Dinos with a percentage of .571, while the Dinos hit .233 percent. TWU had 17 kills and just one attacking error in the set.

Although the Spartans scored the first few points in the fifth set, the Dinos took the lead at 5-4. The Spartans didn't remain behind for long however, moving up 10-7 after a five-point run. Just when it seemed like the Spartans would grab the win, the Dinos came back from behind to tie it at 13-13. But that's when, TWU completed the comeback with two straight kills.

Game Notes: TWU had a perfect month of November, going 7-0…the Spartans are now 4-2 in five-set matches…Calgary had an 8-5 edge in aces.

-TW-