REGINA – Hilary Howe (Calgary) led all players with 15 kills as the No. 1-ranked Trinity Western Spartans took a three-set victory over the Regina Cougars to complete a weekend sweep at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport on the U of R campus.

Most of Howe's kills came when TWU needed them the most. After handling the Cougars easily on Friday night, Regina came out battling and the first set featured 14 tie scores and eight lead changes. But the Cougars couldn't stop Howe, who piled up nine kills with her last coming on set point and giving the Spartans a 25-23 win.

Trinity Western didn't trail the rest of the way, taking a 25-16 win in the second and hitting .324 as a team in the third set while clinching the match with a 25-14 victory.

The win improves the Spartans Canada West-leading record to 13-1.

Besides Howe's 15 kills, Trinity Western also got eight from Avery Heppell (Langley, B.C.). Heppell had no errors on 10 attacks, giving her a blistering .800 hitting percentage while also chipping in defensively with five blocks. Olivia Heinen (Abbotsford, B.C.) added 24 assists and a match-high 14 digs for TWU.

Regina (2-12) got a nine-kill, eight-dig performance from Jessica Lerminiaux while Sierra Parris-Kruger had a team-leading 11 digs and Elizabeth Tooth dished out 26 assists.

As a team, TWU finished with a 4-2 edge in aces and a 12-3 advantage in blocks. 

QUOTABLE 
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach
"The Regina that we played tonight is the Regina that we were expecting. They responded really well and we saw some really good volleyball out there. Overall, I thought there was a higher level of volleyball tonight, which was great to see, and I was pleased with how our team responded to Regina's pushback. Hilary was a force tonight. I feel that our setters did a good job of distributing the ball and then we blocked really well tonight. Our outsides did a good job and Avery was solid for us and our serving was really good tonight." 

NOTABLE
•    TWU is 20-2 in its last 22 matches with Regina.
•    The Spartans have earned 10 of their 12 wins this year in three sets. 

UP NEXT
Trinity Western will now prepare to host a Mount Royal team that's currently ranked No. 5 in the nation and sits in second place in the Canada West standings. Those matches are slated for Friday night (6 p.m.) and Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.) 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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