LANGLEY, British Columbia – In a rematch of last year's CIS gold medal match and in a battle between the top two teams in the country, the No. 2 Trinity Western women's volleyball earned a 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18) win over No. 1 Alberta Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

In a contest featuring two unbeaten teams, the Spartans (13-0), who edged Alberta (12-1) in both the Canada West and CIS championship games last year, picked up their 25th consecutive win and 18th straight on home court.

In both the first and fourth sets, the Spartans trailed by 6-1 score lines, but on both occasions the home side rallied to earn a win.

Sophie Carpentier (Ottawa) led the way for TWU, with 18 kills, while Elly Wendel (Caronport, Sask.) added 14 kills and Rowyn Neufeld (Richmond, B.C.) tallied 10 kills. Middle Katelyn Devaney (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) had seven blocks while setter Nikki Cornwall (Coquitlam, B.C.), who was the MVP of last year's CIS championship tournament, also had seven blocks to go with 45 assists.

Alberta's Meg Casault, Karly Janssen, and Kacey Otto led the visitors with 15, 12 and 10 kills respectively. Setter Mariah Walsh, who entered the game with a conference-leading 10.76 assists per set, finished with 39 assists.

As a team, TWU hit .246 while collecting 11.5 blocks. Alberta hit .240, but had just three blocks.

"I'm pumped for the win for sure," said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer. "There were times when we had really nice rhythm and times when we were out of rhythm. It was a little bit shaky at times, but I'm pleased with how my team worked through it and made things happen, whether it was serving from the baseline, blocking at the net, attacking or even picking up stray balls. They didn't quit. Tonight was a team effort. At different times, everyone was doing something."

Alberta opened the match on a 6-1 run and, before long, broke open an eight-point lead, 15-7. However, with the Pandas up 23-19, the Spartans rallied. A Neufeld kill sparked the comeback and then it was Neufeld serving five straight points as TWU nabbed the set after a 6-0 run.

In the second set, the teams traded points throughout, with neither side opening more than a three-point lead. With the set knotted 23-23, TWU's Wendel tallied her 11th kill of the set to put TWU on set point. Then it was Neufeld with her eighth kill of the contest finishing out the set.

With 21 digs to their credit and a balanced attack that saw three players collect four kills each, the Pandas forced a fourth set with a 25-21 win in the third set. Alberta went up 8-3 and never trailed the rest of the way. The Spartans evened the set 13-13, but that was as close as they would get as Alberta pushed back and a kill from Otto finished the set with Alberta up by four.

The Pandas raced out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth set, but once again TWU rallied, coming back to build a 14-11 lead. After that, the home side continued to roll. After Cornwall pounded back an overpass, the Spartans took a 20-15 lead before cruising to a seven-point win.

"We're not going to give up," said Hofer, whose team rallied from two sets down to win both of last year's conference and national championships. "It's part of who we are. We don't give up ever. We stay alive and we always have a shot."

The Spartans and Pandas will play again Saturday at 5 p.m.

Game Notes: TWU has only lost four sets this year in 13 matches…Last year, TWU was swept by Alberta in its regular season weekend series, but earned wins in both of their playoff meetings…This weekend marks the start of a six-week run in which TWU will play each of the top three teams in the conference, with Alberta, UBC Okanagan and UBC all visiting Langley this semester…The last time the Pandas came to Langley for a regular season tilt, Nov. 8-9, 2013, the teams split the weekend series, with Alberta winning 3-1 before TWU responded with a 3-2 victory.

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