KAMLOOPS, B.C. – Playing a young lineup in the Spartans final game of the regular season, Trinity Western lost 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-23) against Thompson Rivers Saturday at the Tournament Capital Centre.
With first place in Canada West locked up last week, the Spartans rolled out a young group in their regular season finale and it was a trio of first-year players leading the team statically, with
Henry Rempel (Swift Current, Sask.) collecting a match-high 10 kills,
Mathias Elser (Calgary) earning a match-high 30 assists and
Isaiah Olfert (Winnipeg) nabbing three aces.
The loss, which comes as the team prepares for the Canada West Quarter-Finals, ends TWU's 19-match winning streak and also snaps a 26-match winning streak against the WolfPack. The last time the Spartans lost against TRU was Nov. 5, 2010 (3-2).
The Spartans (20-2) will now prepare to host Mount Royal in the Canada West Quarter-Finals Feb. 20-22 (best-of-three) at the Langley Events Centre. The Cougars finished eighth in the Canada West standings with a 9-13 record. The series will mark the first time TWU had MRU have faced each other in the post-season.
With TWU's men's team finishing first in Canada West, the 2019-20 campaign marks the first time in Spartans history that both the men's and women's volleyball teams captured the conference titles in the same season. Both teams are also ranked No. 1 in U SPORTS.
TRU was led by fifth-year Charlie Bringloe, who had eight kills and three aces, and fellow fifth-year Sam Taylor-Parks, who had a match-high six blocks.
All three sets were tight, but it was the WolfPack pulling out the wins late in each of them, with TRU finishing the night hitting .234 while the Spartans hit .183.
TRU won the blocking battle 9-3, but the Spartans had the edge in kills (33-27), assists (33-25) and digs (22-15).
QUOTABLE
Ben Josephson – TWU Head Coach
"It was a tough one tonight. There are a lot of lessons that get revealed from losing. The biggest lesson was just capturing the feeling of how much it sucks to lose and that it hurts and it feels gross. We haven't had that feeling in a long time. I told the guys that the next time we lose, we'll fell way, way worse because now everyone's seasons are on the line, including ours. I think getting that blood taste in your mouth is really valuable for us.
"We got a lot of cool lessons. Our consistency of our mindset and motion between points needs to upgrade. Our service mindset and toughness to get the ball in-bounds has to upgrade. Our block defence needs to upgrade. Our overall competitive mind space has to upgrade for the playoffs. But really that's every year. When you hit the playoffs, you have to raise your level. Tonight was a reminder that we have to be better than we have been all season to continue to get better through the next month. The teams that accelerate through the finish line are the ones that win and we know that. I can't wait to see what we're like next week when we get back to the lab and prepare for the playoffs and for Mount Royal."
NOTABLE
• Including preseason and exhibition games, TWU has a 29-5 overall record.
• This season marks the fourth time in program history that the Spartans have lost two or fewer games in the regular season (2011-12, 19-1; 2013-14, 20-2; 2017-18, 22-2).
• TWU is 14-2 all-time against quarter-final opponent Mount Royal.
UP NEXT
TWU will prepare to host Winnipeg in the Canada West Quarter-Finals (best-of-three) Feb. 20-22 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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