EDMONTON – Trinity Western played an exciting preseason match in the FOG Classic on Friday, defeating Mount Royal 3-2 (23-25, 23-25, 25-22, 25-20, 15-8) to squeak out their second win of the preseason.
 
MRU came out of the gates hot, defeating the Spartans in the first two sets.
 
It was in the third set when TWU turned the tables on MRU, riding hot-hand Jesse Elser (Calgary) who led the Spartans in kills (16), aces (4), and digs (8). The Spartans never looked back, proceeding to complete a reverse sweep of the game.
 
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ben Josephson
"It was a crazy match against an incredibly talented and focussed MRU team. We lost the first two sets badly, almost coming back off some serving runs by Isaiah Olfert (Winnipeg).
 
"The third set was more of the same as we had to catch a run, grinding and greasing one out to steal it late. We started to get on a roll in the fourth and fifth sets to win the game.
 
"I'm glad we ended up finishing the game well. This is two matches in a row where we've ended up better than we started, but two that we've started slow. We need to prepare our team better, but this is a really good time for Canada West volleyball and we've seen that this weekend. We're learning so many great things about how tough we are as we move into a big game against a really talented Alberta team tomorrow."
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans finish off the FOG Classic with a game against Alberta, the host of the series, at 4p.m. on Saturday.
 
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 13 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey, cross country and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as an independent team in men's rugby. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 29 Canada West team championships.

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