LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western and Brandon will play a series-deciding Game 3 in the Canada West semifinals after the Bobcats edged the Spartans in a five-set thriller, winning 3-2 (25-23, 21-25, 27-25, 19-25, 16-14) Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
Mason Metcalf won the match with a game-winning block in the fifth set to seal the win for Brandon, as the defending Canada West Champion Bobcats will play the defending national champion
Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.) had a team-high 22 kills, while
Jackson Howe (Calgary) added 11 kills hitting .562.
Jacob Kern (Edmonton) and
Derek Epp (Saskatoon, Sask.) each had nine digs for the Spartans, with Epp adding 52 assists.
Robin Baghdady led the way for the Bobcats, posting 18 kills, three service aces and four digs, while Elliott Viles had 16 kills and five digs for defending Canada West champion Brandon.
Both teams opened the first set evenly, trading leads frequently with a total of 17 tie scores. Despite a tie score at 23-23, kills from Baghdady and Warkentin sealed the first set for the Bobcats.
After a 3-3 score in the second set, kills from Loeppky and
Jesse Elser (Calgary) gave the Spartans a 5-3 edge. TWU would hold the lead for the rest of the way to take the second set 25-21 and tie the game up 1-1.
After the Spartans opened the third set on a 16-10 run to take a commanding lead, the Bobcats went on a 10-4 run of their own to tie the game back up. Brandon would then edge out the Spartans by two points late to take a 2-1 lead in the match.
On the brink of losing Game 2, the Spartans came out strong in the fourth set, jumping out to a 12-6 lead. The Spartans would then lead the rest of the way, highlighted by five kills and a block from Howe before taking the fourth 25-19.
Despite both teams trading points up to a 10-10 tie in the fifth set, the Bobcats would close out the match with a 16-14 fifth set victory.
Brandon held a 12.5 to 9.5 edge in team blocks.
QUOTABLE
Ben Josephson – TWU Head Coach
"This is the playoffs and the only thing that matters now is winning and losing. Brandon rose to the challenge of responding to a loss after yesterday, so I'm excited to see how we respond tomorrow. There's a ton of things we can do better, but we can't overanalyze everything that happened in this stage of the season. It's a loss, and everybody is going to do what they have to in order to be ready for tomorrow.
"Both teams are going to fight to the absolute death. This is the series everybody was expecting to be great and clearly we are seeing why. I'm really excited to see what our group is made of tomorrow in a do-or-die third match."
NOTABLE
- The Spartans and Bobcats have met frequently in postseason play, as TWU defeated the Bobcats in the U SPORTS Championship (3-0) last March but lost to Brandon in last year's 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 22-12 overall record against the Bobcats.
NEXT UP
TWU and Brandon will play in a series deciding Game 3 Saturday at 8 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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