HAMILTON, Ont. – In a battle between two of the top four teams in the country, the No. 1-ranked Spartans dropped a five-setter to No. 4 McMaster, losing 3-2 (25-19, 25-20, 16-25, 23-25, 15-9) Friday at Burridge Gymnasium. 

After dropping the first two sets, the Spartans rallied to take the third set convincingly before sending the match to a fifth set with a tight fourth-set win that saw TWU hit .565 for the second straight set. However, McMaster found its rhythm, hitting .750 in the fifth set, to earn the upset win. 

The loss snapped a 14-match winning streak for the Spartans, which included three wins over NCAA competition at the Can Am Volleyball Holiday Showcase in Toronto. 

TWU is now 20-3 overall, including an 11-1 regular season record in Canada West.

Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.) had a team-high 16 kills, while Jackson Howe (Calgary) had 12 and Jesse Elser (Calgary) had 11. Derek Epp (Saskatoon) had 49 assists as TWU hit .383 as a team. 

McMaster, who hit .434 as a team, was led by Nathan Delguidice, who had 18 kills while setting David Doty had 53 assists. 

The teams will play a rematch Saturday back at Burridge Gymnasium at 7 p.m. (ET).

NOTABLE
•    The Spartans 14-match winning streak dated back to Oct. 19, when they lost a five-setter on the road against Alberta. 
•    TWU head coach Ben Josephson is not with the team, as he is currently coaching with Canada's senior women's team, as the team prepares for the upcoming Olympic qualifying tournament.  
•    The Spartans are coming off winning three straight games at the Can Am Volleyball Holiday Showcase, beating No. 2-ranked UCLA, No. 4 Long Beach State and No. 6 Lewis.
•    TWU has knocked off McMaster in each of the last five U SPORTS championship tournaments, beating the Marauders in the quarter-finals in 2019, in the semifinals in 2015, 2017 and 2018, and in the final in 2016.

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.

-TW-