VANCOUVER, B.C. – Trinity Western defeated the UBC Thunderbirds 3-1 (28-30, 29-27, 25-13, 25-23) at the War Memorial Gym on Friday night.
TWU's (9-0) roared back with three consecutive sets won after UBC (5-4) shocked the Spartans in the first set.
Jackson Howe (Calgary) played incredibly for the Spartans, putting down nine kills on a hitting efficiency of 35.3 percent. Howe was only bested by one teammate in the category of efficiency as
Derek Epp (Saskatoon) made five kills on six attempts for a stellar rate of 83.3 percent. Epp also led the Spartans with 36 assists while tying
Mathias Elser (Calgary) for the game-high in digs with 12.
Brodie Hofer (Langley, B.C.) rounded off TWU's night by leading in kills (20), service aces (3), and points (23.5).
AS IT HAPPENED
The first set was wild. Both the Spartans and Thunderbirds refused to give an inch as the largest lead of the set was a four-point advantage (8-4) held by UBC in early stages of the game. With extra points being required to decide the set's verdict, UBC and TWU combined for five combined shots at a set-point. The fifth, and final opportunity came on a block by UBC's Coltyn Liu to close the set (28-30).
The Spartans came out firing to begin the second set of play, taking a commanding 13-6 lead halfway through. UBC refused to relent, eventually bringing the set to a 22-22 tie. Going to extra points again,
Jesse Elser (Calgary) finished it off with a kill to tie the game at 1-1 (29-27).
The Spartans dominated in the third set of action, putting UBC away with a 25-13 victory to go up 2-1.
Both teams traded blows throughout the fourth, and final set of play on Friday night. The match ended with TWU's
Jesse Elser completing a service ace to end the game at a 3-1 victory for the Spartans.
QUOTABLE
Ben Josephson - TWU Head Coach
"That was the first time we played a road game since our exhibition portion of the year and this was the first time that this particular group played a game together since we played UFV on Oct. 9. And, we did all this while playing against our rivals, who are a great volleyball team, and doing so on the road.
"So, the takeaway was that I'm incredibly pleased and pumped with how tough and gritty the guys were and how they made plays when it mattered. However, I'm incredibly frustrated at the level of execution on the system that we play and the tactics that we had put in place for the match. Neither of those things were executed on a very high level. That takes nothing away from how good UBC was, especially Matt Neaves. That was one of the most dominant spiking performances we've faced that I can remember. We were trying lots of things but none of them worked. What I do know is that there were about 10 balls that we talked about and had a plan for and we just simply missed on.
"I told the guys that if they execute like that on our system and our tactics again, we will lose for sure.
"However, on the bright note, if we can combine tactical decision-making and execution with the heart and the grit and play-making and the composure the guys showed on the road, I think that blend is something that is super exciting for us as coaches. We can shore up the execution. That's something well within our control. The grit and heart is something we can't just turn on, so to see that after all this time without playing is something that is very exciting for us.
"The volleyball wasn't great, but the character was awesome."
NOTABLE
- The Spartans are now 3-0 over the Thunderbirds thus far in the 2021-22 season.
- This win improves TWU's win streak against UBC to five, with the last loss coming in a preseason match on Oct. 5th, 2019.
- TWU is 18-0 against Canada West opponents across all competitions so far in the 2021-22 season.
- Friday's victory also stands as TWU's first away game in Canada West play.
NEXT UP
TWU will be back to face UBC at the War Memorial Gym on Saturday (6:30 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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