LANGLEY, British Columbia – With a match-high 12 kills while hitting .455, Blake Scheerhoorn (Belleville, Ont.) led the No. 9 Trinity Western men's volleyball team to a 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-) win over UBC Okanagan Friday at the Langley Events Centre.

In their first game back at the LEC in nearly a month, the Spartans hit .351 as a team and earned nine aces and 9.5 blocks to run away with a convincing three-setter.

The Spartans, who were coming off a bye, improved their record to 10-9 while the loss drops UBCO to 3-16 and is the Heat's eighth setback in a row.

Beyond Scheerhoorn, who also had four aces, it was Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) helping lead the offense as he collected 11 kills to go with three aces and three blocks. Setter Adam Schriemer (Winnipeg), who made his first start of the season, had 29 assists as well as three kills. Libero Tyler Koslowsky (Abbotsford, B.C.) had a match-high 16 digs.

UBCO's Kyle Pankratz had a team-high seven kills while Jim Bell added six kills, eight digs and three blocks. Kristof Schlagintweit led the team with 23 assists.

"When you come off a bye, you want to make sure that the stuff you put emphasis on shows itself in the match," said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. "This match was evidence of what the guys really worked hard on. Block defense and serving were emphasis points for us and that was a strength of the team tonight. Now, the question for tomorrow will be: can we sustain that? But for tonight, that question was answered and the guys applied their preparation to performance.

"I think we played at a level that was really high and I think we surprised them a bit with our formation and our lineup. If you sideout at that percentage (78 per cent), you're going to win almost every game."

The Heat came out strong in the first set, opening a 13-10 lead after a Lars Bornemann kill. However the Spartans responded with a 6-0 run to turn the set TWU's way and give the home side the lead for good. On set point, Scheerhoorn tallied his fourth kill of the night to finish the set at 25-21.

The Spartans scored the first four points of the second set and rolled from there. The Heat, who was held to a .080 hitting percentage in the set, got within one point, at 6-5, but the Spartans pulled away shortly thereafter. A Sclater kill gave TWU a 20-12 lead before Schriemer ended the set with a kill of his own at 25-15.

With momentum on their side and a boisterous crowd behind them, the Spartans opened a quick 7-2 lead in the third set and maintained control throughout. A Scheerhoorn kill put TWU up 20-11 before a Sclater ace ended the match.

The two teams will meet again Saturday at 7 p.m.

Game Notes: There were nine tie scores in the first set, but only one tie score in the second and third sets combined…UBCO is now 0-9 all-time in regular season action against TWU…The Spartans are now 2-5 in 2016.

-TW-