LANGLEY, B.C. – In what was a rematch of last years' Canada West and U SPORTS championship games the Trinity Western Spartans defeated the Brandon Bobcats in straight sets (28-26, 25-22, 25-20) in Game 1 of the Canada West semifinals Thursday at the Langley Events Centre.
 
Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.) led the way for the No. 1-ranked Spartans, adding 12 kills, two service aces and five digs. Pearson Eshenko (Banff, Alta.), Jesse Elser (Calgary), and Jackson Howe (Calgary) all added eight kills for the defending national champions, while Derek Epp (Saskatoon) contributed 40 assists.
 
Elliott Viles led the way for the Bobcats, posting 12 kills and a team-high three service aces for the Bobcats. Reece Dixon added 18 assists and 10 digs while Mason Metcalf contributed five kills while hitting .444 in the losing cause. 

Brandon opened the first set to take a 9-6 lead, but a pair of Howe kills and a Jesse Elser ace tied the score back up at 9-9. Both teams traded leads frequently, before an Eshenko kill ultimately gave TWU a 28-26 first set win. The first ended with a total of 14 tied scores and seven lead changes.
 
The Spartans and Bobcats continued even play throughout the second, trading points once again up to a 9-9 score. After the Bobcats briefly broke ahead 12-10, TWU would go on a 7-2 run to take a 17-14 lead. Despite Brandon coming to within two late at 23-21, the Spartans would hold on to take their second consecutive set at 25-22.
 
Searching for their first set win, Brandon came out on a 7-3 run to open the third set. TWU would then counter on an 8-2 run of its own highlighted by a pair of aces from Jesse Elser to take a 11-9 lead. TWU would hold the lead for the rest of the match, winning the third set 25-20. The Spartans hit .567 (18-1-30) in the third and final set.
 
TWU held a 7.0 to 5.0 edge in total team blocks.
 
QUOTABLE
Ben Josephson – TWU Head Coach
 
"We told our team that at this time of the year, in the playoffs, the only thing that will make you feel good is winning and the only thing you'll feel bad about is losing. There's a lot of things we could have done better tonight, but there's also a lot we could have done worse. The reality is we won Game 1 of the semifinals and now we have to win once over the next two games.
 
"Both teams had really good schemes coming into the game, but we didn't see those come to fruition as well as we had hoped. There were a bunch of times both teams had good looks but just didn't quite execute. Great teams make it difficult for opponents to play against and that's what both teams were able to accomplish tonight. Baghdady and Viles are some of the two best players I have ever coached against, so obviously we're scheming against those two guys and they're scheming against our guys, and that's what playoff volleyball is all about.
 
"We're now just one win away from the Championship game. Brandon has two sweep us in two games now, and that's an incredibly hard thing to do at the Langley Events Centre with our fans." 
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans and Bobcats have met frequently in post season play, as TWU defeated the Bobcats in the U SPORTS Championship (3-0) last March after falling to Brandon in last years' Canada West Championship (3-2).
• TWU was coming off sweeping its quarter-final matchup against Mount Royal last week (3-0, 3-0), while Brandon came to Langley after defeating Calgary in two games (3-0, 3-1) at home. 
• The Spartans finished the regular season with a 20-2 record atop the conference standings, while Brandon finished fourth at 13-9. 
• TWU now holds a 22-11 overall record against the Bobcats.

 
NEXT UP
The Spartans will look to advance to the Canada West Championship tomorrow, as they host Brandon in Game 2 of the semifinals at 8:30 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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