LANGLEY, British Columbia – Thanks in large part to a record-setting 13-ace effort, the No. 3 Trinity Western men's volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-19, 25-8, 25-11) win over MacEwan Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

Nick Del Bianco (Surrey, B.C.) paced the Spartans with seven aces while Blake Scheerhoorn (Belleville, Ont.) had three and three others had singles. The 13 aces sets a TWU record for a three-set match, beating the previous record of 12, which was set Jan. 27, 2007 against Calgary.

After a close first set, TWU (13-4) took over early in the second set and maintained control the rest of the way. The Spartans hit .479 as a team and only made five attacking errors. MacEwan (0-17), who was playing in the LEC for the first time in school history, hit -.048. TWU also out-blocked the Griffins 9-1.

The Spartans capped the match by hitting .875 in the third set with 14 kills and no errors on 16 attacks.

Scheerhoorn led TWU's offence with nine kills while Del Bianco added eight kills. Daniel Grant (Chetwynd, B.C.) had a match-high eight blocks to go with three kills. Adam Schriemer (Winnipeg) had 21 assists.

Damon Holmen and Shane Kerrison each had six kills to lead MacEwan. Setter Matt Mohler had 13 assists while Holmen also added a team-high five digs.

"I'm pleased," said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. "The theme this week is patience. Patience is not just waiting on something, it's actually not pressing as well. I thought they found a nice balance between not waiting for something to happen but not forcing something to happen. To play that sharp against an opponent that is a little different than what we're used to seeing shows that they had great patience in the way they played. Overall, I didn't think we tried to do too much and I don't think we did too little.

"They did just enough, like the three bears."
   
The first set was back and forth early on before the Spartans took over in the middle stages and rolled to a six-point win. With TWU up 14-13, the Spartans tallied the next two points to go into the break up 16-13. From there the Spartans pulled away for the win.

On the strength of seven aces, the Spartans took control of the second set early and never relented. The Spartans opened an 8-3 lead and ran away with the set in decisive fashion.

"Since we've been back, we've put a point of emphasis to serve the ball a little more difficultly and a little more accurately into seams," Josephson said. "I thought we saw the result of that tonight."

In the third set, TWU added four aces to its total and ran a near perfect offence, siding out on all 11 of its opportunities, en route to a 14-point win.

The Spartans and Griffins will meet in the rematch Saturday at 7 p.m.

Game Notes: The Spartans have won six matches in a row…their last loss was Nov. 21 against Brandon…the TWU individual record for aces in a three-set match is eight, which was set by Josh Howatson on Nov. 12, 2005 in a game against Calgary…this is the second time this year Del Bianco his earned seven kills as he also did so against Calgary on Nov. 28…the 13 aces TWU earned as a team is the most ever accumulated by the Spartans in any match at the LEC…the previous high was 11, which TWU collected on Jan. 11, 2014.

-TW-