KAMLOOPS, B.C. – The Spartans women's volleyball team clinched first-place in Canada West with a straight-sets (25-16, 25-16, 25-19) win over Thompson Rivers Friday at Tournament Capital Centre.
 
It's the second consecutive season the Spartans will finish first in Canada West, of which comes after last year's conference championship.
 
The loss drops the Wolfpack to 16-7, resulting in a regular season finish outside the top-4 and guaranteeing a road playoff matchup. 
 
Trinity Western was led by Hilary Howe (Calgary) and Savannah Purdy (Victoria, B.C.), as both had 11 kills. Howe had 11 kills in 23 chances while Purdy had 26 opportunities. Dora Komlodi (Calgary) had 27 assists and five digs.
 
For the Wolfpack, they were led by Kendra Finch's eight kills and six digs. Olga Savenchuk had seven kills on 19 chances.
 
The Spartans took the first set getting the technical time out leading 16-9.   Howe and Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) each had four kills for Trinity Western. Howe had nine swings in the set while Odoom had six. Mikaelyn Sych (Airdrie, Alta.) had three kills in six opportunities.
 
In the second set, the Spartans jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and were up by as many as five (11-6) when the WolfPack called a time out. That seemed to work as the Pack got the next point but was in vain as they then committed a service error to make it 12-7. The Spartans were up 16-11 at the time out. Purdy had five kills for the Spartans in the set in 10 attempts.
 
In the third set, the teams exchanged points with the teams tied at 10 before the Spartans went on a 3-0 run. The WolfPack battled back to tie it up at 14 with TRU going into the tech time out up 16-15. The Spartans though went on a 3-0 run to move up 19-16. Down 21-17, TRU got a kill from Savenchuk followed by a dump from Abby Spratt to make it 21-19 but that was as close at the WolfPack would get as they fell 25-19. 
 
QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach
 
"Really proud of the team tonight. Was really neat to see them go out tonight and play relaxed, light, and just have a lot of fun. They played extremely well hitting over .300 as a team. Avery, Savannah and Hilary led the way, with our efficiency absolutely through the roof with most of our players.
 
"It was also cool to be able to clinch first in the conference tonight. We're excited to go into the playoff run and see how far we can take it."
 
NOTABLE

• TWU has won seven consecutive games and sit first in Canada West with a 21-2 record. They are just two points up of second-place Mount Royal (20-3) heading into their final game Saturday. 
• The Spartans were coming off a pair of straight-sets wins over Brandon at home two weeks ago (Jan. 31-Feb. 1), while the WolfPack split games against MacEwan last week. 
• TWU's has now won 11 consecutive conference games against Thompson Rivers, with its last loss coming Feb. 12, 2016 (3-1). 

 
NEXT UP
TWU will close out the regular season Saturday (5 p.m. PT) at Tournament Capital 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.
 
-TW-