SASKATOON, Saskatchewan – The No. 3 Trinity Western Spartans used a balanced attack to defeat the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-0 in Canada West women's volleyball action Friday night at Ron & Jane Graham Centre Court at the PAC in Saskatoon, Sask. The 25-19, 25-15, 25-21) victory keeps the Spartans perfect at 9-0, while loss drops the Huskies to 2-5. 

Led by third year outside Hilary Howe's (Calgary) 14 kills, the Spartans had four players his double digits in kills. Second year middle Avery Heppell (Langley, B.C.), rookie outside Savannah Purdy (Victoria) and fourth year middle Mikaelyn Sych (Airdrie, Alta.) added 12 kills each to the Spartan attack. TWU rookie setter Olivia Heinen (Langley, B.C.) ran the Spartan attack and finished with 41 set assists. 

The Huskies Emily Koshinsky was the lone Saskatchewan player to hit double digits as she finished with 15 kills. Sasketchwan setter Alexandra Frank had 20 set assists on the evening. 

The Spartans used a strong offensive attack to take the opening set 25-19. TWU had earned 21 of their 25 points off of their attack hitting .474 on 38 swings. On the other side of the net the Huskies managed to hit for .231 going 12-3-29. The  opening set had the two teams tied at 17. but going into the end of hte set TWU dominated outscoring Saskatchewan 8-2 to lead 1-0.

In the second set the Spartans extended their margin of victory winning 25-15. The Spartans offence cooled off as TWU only hit .267 (13-5-30), but their defense stepped up holding Saskatchewan to a zero attack efficiency (7-7-31). The Spartans finished the set with four blocks and two aces, while the Huskies had one block. 

Saskatchewan had their best set of the match in the final set. TWU looked like they were going to run away with the final set after taking a 16-10 lead at the break. But the Huskies found life out of the timeout an 10-6 run to cut the Spartans lead to two points trailing 22-20 and force TWU into a timeout. The two teams exchanged points before TWU's Purdy had back-to-back kills to give the Spartans the final set 25-21.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
"The whole group did an outstanding job tonight. Our middles were very good, and we were solid at the net. Olivia did a great job of distributing the ball and we played a high efficiency match."

On TWU's serving
"Saskatchewan has strong outside hitters and we were able to place the ball where we wanted and that kept them off the net and slowed down their attack. 

On the change in momentum in the opening set
"Saskatchewan came out hot to start the first set and it forced us play better. They came to play and really challenged our block and forced us to get better."

NOTABLE

• Trinity Western hit .417 (54-11-103), while Saskatchewan hit .216 (34-12-102)
• The Spartans finished the night with six blocks and four aces, while the Huskies finished with one block and four aces

UP NEXT
The two teams will face each other again Saturday with a 6 p.m. CT first serve. The both matches can be seen live on Canadawest.TV. 

-TW-