LANGLEY, B.C. – It was a battle of the best teams in Canada West, but the No. 1 ranked Spartans women's volleyball team prevailed over No. 5 Mount Royal Friday in straight sets at the Langley Events Centre.
 
With the win, the Spartans improved to a conference best 14-1 record, three wins clear of the second place Cougars (11-2).
 
Hilary Howe (Calgary) added 12 kills, five serving aces and five digs for TWU, while Dora Komlodi (Calgary) added three serving aces and 17 assists in the win.
 
Nyadholi Thokbuom added team highs with eight kills and three serving aces for the Cougars, with Quinn Pelland adding six digs alongside 20 aces.
 
TWU opened the first set on a 5-1 run, before Mount Royal would storm back to take an 18-15 lead. The Spartans however would take 10 of final 12 points to win the first set 25-20. Both teams finished the set with 8 kills, with the Cougars accounting for nine errors as opposed to TWU's three.
 
The Spartans carried their momentum into the second set going on a 10-3 run to start. After the Cougars narrowed the lead to 22-17, the Spartans once again took control to take the second set 25-17. 
 
Mount Royal then opened the third set on an 9-1 run, before the Spartans crawled back to within three points at 9-6 with Komlodi serving. With both teams trading points throughout the majority of the second set, TWU ultimately took its first lead of the set late at 25-24, before taking the final point to win the game in straight sets.
 
QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach
 
"Other than it being a serving war out there I think both teams were just looking for opportunities to put each other in a little bit of trouble. Either team had the capacity to go up six points and come back from six points. 
 
"They're a great team and this is their first game back in a long time, so we're expecting they're going to be making adjustments to be ready to go again tomorrow. They're well coached and have a great bunch of athletes, so I expect both teams to serve really well and go toe-to-toe again tomorrow.
 
On rallying from behind in the third set
"We wanted to believe we could come back. We knew everyone who went to the service line during that third set needed to serve at least two or three balls. The team did a great job at finding a way to do that."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU was coming off a pair of straight set victories on the road over Regina last weekend, while the Cougars were coming off a bye week. 
• The Spartans improve their perfect record to 19-0 against Mount Royal since 2013, losing just six sets over that span.
• The series also marks the first meeting between the two teams since TWU's conference quarter-final win at home (Feb. 21-22, 2019).

 
NEXT UP
The Spartans once again take on No. 5 Mount Royal Saturday (3 p.m. PT) at the Langley Events Centre.

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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