LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western returned to the Langley Events Centre for their long-awaited home opener, defeating Thompson Rivers 3-0 (25-16, 25-6, 25-17) on Friday.
 
The Spartans (1-0) wasted no time in going right at TRU (0-1), going on a 7-0 serving run by Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) to end the first set.
 
TWU's strong carried into the second set as the Spartans outscored the Wolfpack 15-3 to begin the second period of action. The Spartans were dominant in the second set, only surrendering six points en route to securing two of three sets.
 
The home side capped off the game with another set of dominance, rotating a large portion of the roster into the match to seal Friday night's sweep.

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NOTABLE

• It was a strong night up the middle for the Spartans as Avery Heppell (Langley, B.C.) and Mikayla Benterud (Sherwood Park, Alta.) were fantastic. The two middles combined for 14 kills, three aces, and five blocks.
• Savannah Purdy (Victoria) was a true difference maker for the Spartans on Friday. The third-year outside hitter led the way in kills (10) and aces (5) while tossing in eight of her own digs.
• The Spartans have now won seven home openers in a row, with their last home opening loss coming against UBC on Oct. 25^th, 2013.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
"A lot of excitement and nerves coming into this. Not doing this in so long made us remember what we had been missing, and what we never want to take for granted again, so it was great to be in the gym competing, and playing well.
 
"I thought we had a lot of great performances tonight. Emma Gamache (Abbotsford, B.C.) had an outstanding night, Olivia Heinen (Langley, B.C.) delivered the ball really well to run a great offence. All of our attackers did a really nice job. Everybody served the ball well too.
 
"Really pleased with our performance tonight, and really excited that we get to go out and compete again tomorrow."
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans complete part two of their home opening weekend against TRU on Saturday at 4 p.m.

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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