BRANDON, Manitoba – The reigning CIS national champion Trinity Western Spartans picked up right where they left off last season, earning a 3-0 (30-28, 25-20, 25-21) win over the host Brandon Bobcats Friday night.
 
Sophie Carpentier (Ottawa) and Katie Devaney (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) both finished in double-digit kills as the Spartans swept Brandon in the first match of the 2015-16 Canada West regular season.
 
The Spartans outhit the Bobcats, hitting .337 as a team compared to the Bobcats .082. The Bobcats out-served the Spartans, picking up 11 aces, while the Spartans earned just three.
 
Devaney finished with a match-high 11 kills and a .400 attack efficiency while Carpentier had 10 kills on a .421 attack efficiency. Kristin Anton (Prince George, B.C.) had a match-high five blocks to help TWU to a 10-8 edge in blocks. Rowyn Neufeld (Richmond, B.C.) who was making her CIS debut, had nine kills and two aces.

Libero Mariel Garcia, who transferred to TWU this year after previously playing with Manitoba, had a team-high 12 digs. Setter Nikki Cornwall (Coquitlam, B.C.) had 41 assists.

"It was a great start to our season," said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer. "We had a lot of really solid performances tonight. Nikki Cornwall distributed the ball really well and both Katie and Sophie were excellent. I thought Rowyn also played very well.

"We blocked well and did a lot of things well, but, at the same time, there is a good list of things that we can do to be more in sync tomorrow. There are a lot of things that we are looking forward to cleaning up, but there's also a lot that we can build on."
 
The Bobcats were paced by Nikki Majewski who finished with a team-high nine kills and three aces. Regan Dahl and Courtney Roberts both added three aces as well.

The two teams will play again Saturday night in the second-half of the weekend series. First serve in that match is scheduled for 5 pm.

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