HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – With the Spartans middle blockers leading the way, Trinity Western finished its 11-match Eastern Canada tour with a 3-1 (25-18, 25-17, 21-25, 25-19) win over Dalhousie Monday.

Aaron Boettcher (Surrey, B.C.) had 10 blocks and seven kills and Pearce Eshenko (Banff, Alta.) had 15 kills to power the Spartans from the middle, while setter Adam Schriemer (Winnipeg) guided the offence with 45 assists. Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) had a match-high 17 kills from the outside.

The win is the Spartans second in as many days over Dalhousie. TWU posted a 9-2 record over the course of their tour. After dropping back-to-back five-setters early in the trip, the Spartans return home riding an eight-match winning streak.

"The guys are exhausted and mentally fatigued, but they found a way to grind it out and play great," said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. "I thought our service pressure was awesome and our block backed that up with point-scoring blocks. Dalhousie runs such a fast offence that it took a long time – five scrimmages and matches – to figure out how to get our hand level down. I thought our guys did a really good job tonight of figuring out where our hands needed to be to be in the right spots blocking-wise.

"Aaron Boettcher was just incredible. This might have been the best match of his career. Our middle attack efficiency and volume went up too. Adam (Schriemer) and Pearce (Eshenko) and Aaron had a nice connection today. That also means our passing was good today. I was also really pleased with the way we managed our emotions and gutted it out."

The Spartans will play three more preseason games – they travel to play UBC Oct. 20 before hosting Mount Royal Oct. 21 and UBC Okanagan Oct. 22 – before opening the regular season Oct. 28-29 in Regina.

-TW-