TORONTO – Trinity Western put themselves in elite company across North American men's volleyball as they rolled to a third straight win at Can Am Volleyball Holiday Showcase, beating No. 6-ranked Lewis University 3-0 (26-24, 25-16, 25-16) to cap the tournament with a perfect record Tuesday at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre. 

After edging the Flyers by just two points in the first set, TWU took it to another gear in the final two sets of the contest, cruising to back-to-back nine-point wins. 

The victory secured a 3-0 record against their NCAA foes, as the defending U SPORTS champion Spartans knocked off No. 2-ranked UCLA (3-0) and the two-time defending NCAA champion and No. 4-ranked Long Beach State (3-2). 

The event marked the first time in a decade that TWU has faced NCAA competition, with the Spartans winning nine of 11 sets against three of the top six programs in the United States. 

TWU, who is ranked No. 1 in the U SPORTS Top 10, will stay in Ontario for three more exhibition matches, taking on Brock (Jan. 2) before back-to-back games against No. 4-ranked McMaster (Jan. 3-4).

A close first set saw the Spartans take the win after Jackson Howe (Calgary) threw down an overpass.

With momentum on the TWU side, the Spartans raced out to a 6-1 lead in the second set and never looked back. TWU pushed its lead to 13-6 midway through the set before running away with the 25-16 win. 

The Spartans took a 9-6 lead in the third set before extending their advantage to five points at the technical timeout. From there, TWU went ahead 19-13 and then pulled away down the stretch. 

QUOTABLE
Ben Ball 
"We were really pleased with today's game. This Lewis team is huge and super athletic. That first set was a great battle back and forth. We missed a lot of serves, but we were being aggressive with it and still making volleyball plays to keep it close. We found a way to pull off that first set and then we cleaned up our serve, which really helped us in the second and third sets."

On the tournament 
"We were really happy with the tournament. It was a ton of fun. We grinded through the first match against Long Beach and then I feel like we just built throughout the tournament, getting better and better and cleaning up some things."

NOTABLE
•    TWU is now 2-2 all-time against Lewis. 
•    The Spartans are now 22-20 all-time against NCAA opponents.
•    TWU head coach Ben Josephson is not at the tournament as he is currently with Canada's senior women's team as an assistant coach as the team prepares for the upcoming Olympic qualifying tournament.  
•    The Can Am Volleyball Holiday Showcase features four Canadian sides, with the University of Alberta, McMaster University and Ryerson University joining TWU against four high-profile NCAA teams, including Long Beach State, UCLA, Lewis and Ohio State.
•    The last time TWU took on an American foe was in 2009-10, when the Spartans played both UCLA and the University of the Pacific at Calgary's Dino Cup. TWU finished that year's tournament with a 3-0 record against its NCAA opponents, beating UCLA once (3-0) and Pacific twice (3-2 and 3-0).
•    The Spartans have previously played all three teams it faced at the Can Am Showcase, with TWU owning a 2-2 record all-time against Long Beach State and a 4-2 record against UCLA.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES EST)
Sat. Dec. 28
2 p.m. – Lewis (3) Ryerson (0)
4:30 p.m. – Alberta (3) Ohio State (2) 
7 p.m. – Trinity Western (3) Long Beach State (2)

Sun. Dec. 29
2 p.m. – Ryerson (3) UCLA (1) 
4:30 p.m. – Ohio State (3) McMaster (1)
7 p.m. – Trinity Western (3) UCLA (0)

Mon. Dec. 30
2 p.m. – Ohio State (3) Ryerson (2)
4:30 p.m. – Lewis (3) McMaster (0)
7 p.m. – Alberta (3) Long Beach (0)

Tues., Dec. 31
11:30 a.m. – Long Beach (3) McMaster (2)
2 p.m. – Trinity Western (3) Lewis (0)
4:30 p.m. – UCLA vs. Alberta Golden Bears

About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men's hockey and as an independent team in men's rugby. The men's and women's hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.

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