LANGLEY, B.C. – The No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans were efficient in all aspects of their game as the Spartans defeated the Fraser Valley Cascades 3-0 in Canada West women's volleyball action Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. TWU improved to 5-1 with an impressive 25-16, 25-8, 25-18 victory. The loss drops UFV to 1-5 in conference play.
Savannah Purdy (Victoria) with 10 kills at .455 led the Spartan attack. While teammates Meaghan Mealey (Calgary) and Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.) each added six kills. Sadie Wilson (Vancouver) with six kills and four digs led the Cascades.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans jumped out early in the opening set by quickly taking a 7-1 lead. The two teams exchanged points through to the media timeout with TWU up 16-9 after a Purdy kill. The Spartans never struggled in the set as the opened the match with a solid 25-16 first set win. TWU hit .441 (18-3-34), while UFV hit .088 (8-5-34).
Trinity Western continued their dominant play in the second set as they quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead. The Spartans expanded their lead to 16-6 at the media break. TWU outscored UFV 9-2 in the second half of the set to take the second set 25-8. The Spartans had a dominant second set attack hitting .524 (12-1-21), while the Cascades hit at -.115 (4-7-26).
The third set was much more evenly matched. The Spartans held the slim one point lead 16-15 at the media time out. UFV took the next point to tie the set at 16-16. But from their TWU took control as the outscored the Cascades 9-2 to take the final set 25-18 and the match 3-0. In the third set the Spartans hit at .242 (13-5-33), while the Cascades hit at .026 (9-8-38).
NOTABLE
· The Spartans finished the night hitting .386 (43-9-88) while the Cascades finished at .010 (21-20-98)
· TWU had nine blocks, while UFV had one.
· The Spartans had 49 digs compared to the Cascades 31.
· Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) had 10 digs for the Spartans, while Emily Matsui (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) had seven digs for the Cascades
· TWU had a 71 percent side-out efficiency, while UFV was at 40 percent.
QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
"Really pleased with how our girls played tonight. We wanted to come out there and do a nice job of forcing UFV to play the ball, and I thought everyone did a nice job in that. We controlled our attacking and serving much better than last night.
"I really appreciate the overall effort tonight too. It is nice being able to put different lineups out there with the girls playing different positions, and getting different opportunities. Everybody did a really nice job tonight."
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now be off for the Christmas break. It will be over six weeks before TWU returns to Canada West action on January 21 & 22 when they will host the UBC Okanagan Heat. Both matches can be seen live on Canadawest.tv.
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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