LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 3 Trinity Western women's volleyball team gained another win in its first home series of the season against the Winnipeg Wesmen Saturday night, claiming a 3-1 (24-26, 25-20, 25-14, 25-16) victory at the David E. Enarson Gym.

After winning 3-0 Friday night, the Spartans completed the weekend sweep to improve their regular season record to 4-0.
    
Despite falling to the Wesmen (0-4) in the first set, 26-24, the Spartans regained their rhythm in the second set to create a good tone for the sets to come.

Fourth-year powerhouse outside Sophie Carpentier (Ottawa) led the way for TWU offensively with a career-high 24 kills while hitting .391. Her previous career-high for kills was 22, which she accomplished three times in the fall of 2013.

"Sophie had enormous amount of volume tonight and she hit unreal," said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer. "She's almost hitting .400 and that's crazy."

TWU's Elly Wendel (Caronport, Sask.) added 11 kills while Katie Devaney (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) came out strong in the middle for the Spartans with a total seven kills and a match-high six blocks. Nikki Cornwall (Coquitlam, B.C.) had a match-high 44 assists while libero Mariel Garcia (Winnipeg) had 12 digs. Kristin Anton (Prince George, B.C.) was outstanding from the serving line as she earned her first five aces of her TWU career.

Ozana Nikolic and Karissa Kuhr of the Wesmen had 13 and eight kills respectively while setter Jayme Menzies had 28 assists for the night.

"I thought we played a bit sporadically tonight," Hofer said. "I thought we did some really good things, but we weren't quite ourselves and weren't quite in sync. I know that Winnipeg played better tonight, but I think for us it's an opportunity to learn. I think we need to have more of a sense of urgency on our part to really get better on the practice floor and I want to see that this next week."

The first set had the Spartans struggling to find their groove and midway through the set, the score was knotted 16-16. Wendel led TWU with five kills, but the Wesmen were able to find their step late, winning the set 26-24. The win marked the first set the Wesmen have captured over the Spartans since Jan. 20, 2012. Over that span, the Spartans had won eight straight three-set matches.

The Spartans bounced back to take the second set, but not without climbing back from an early deficit. They fought for each point neck and neck with the Wesmen, but it was Winnipeg leading 12-10 midway through the set. However, a Rowyn Neufeld (Richmond, B.C.) kill turned the tides for the home side as TWU went on a 6-0 run, which was aided by an impressive serving effort from Anton.

Set three was a decisive win for the Spartans as they continued connecting on great rallies and smart gameplay and took the set by 11 points. Cornwall found action in numerous net jousts and Devaney was a wall at the net as TWU left the set leading 36-29 in kills.

Carpentier came out strong in the fourth set and helped the Spartans to a 25-16 win with a whopping 12 kills. Devaney was once again a power with a six-point serving streak to give the Spartans a heavy lead. The final play saw a smooth serve from Cornwall and a joust at the net from Carpentier that dropped on the Wesmen side to win the set and the match.

The TWU women's volleyball team continue their regular season schedule Oct. 30-31 in Saskatchewan. Winnipeg is back in B.C. next weekend when it travels to play UBC Okanagan Oct. 30-31.

Game Notes: TWU now has a 25-9 all-time record against the Wesmen and was won 22 matches in a row…TWU hit .264 as a team while Winnipeg hit .120…TWU had 11 blocks to Winnipeg's 5.5.

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