LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western men's volleyball team opened its preseason campaign with a five-set win over Mount Royal Thursday at the Langley Events Centre.

The Spartans took the first, third and fifth sets while the Cougars responded by winning both the second and fourth sets.

"You can tell both teams are in preseason mode," said TWU coach Ben Josephson. "Both teams are working on a few things very intentionally and you can kind of see what's been the focus and what's been overlooked.

"We're happy with the result and with some of the process things that we were doing. I thought the guys showed a lot of focus at trying to get better at the technical things that we've been working on during the match. That doesn't always produce quality play, but it produces long-term improvement."

The Spartans will play MRU again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the LEC. The Cougars will take on UBC Friday at 7:30 p.m. before returning to Langley for the third game of their trip to the West Coast.

-TW-