VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans rallied for a 3-1 win over the UBC Thunderbirds Friday night in front of a sold-out crowd at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver, B.C. The 18-25, 25-19, 25-22, and 25-19 win improves TWU to 6-1, while the loss drops UBC to 5-4.
 
Meaghan Mealey had a team-high 15 kills for the Spartans with three aces and 10 digs, Savannah Purdy tallied nine kills with five aces and five digs, and Ansah Odoom earned nine kills with six blocks and six digs as the Spartans.
 
Cara Kovacs led the 'Birds with 16 kills and added seven digs, while Brynn Pasin put up 11 kills with seven digs and four blocks in the loss.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
 
The first set was even early, but UBC was able to take a 16-13 lead at the break. The Thunderbirds expanded their lead as they took the opening set 25-18. UBC had the better offence in the set hitting at 22.7 percent (10-5-22), while TWU hit at 13.8 percent (9-5-29).
 
TWU jumped out to an early 10-5 lead in the second set. But UBC turned things around to take a 16-14 lead at the media timeout. Out of the beak TWU dominated outscoring UBC 11-3 to even the match at 1-1 with a 25-19 win. The Spartans hitting improved slightly to 14.8 percent (6-2-27) while TWU's defence held the Thunderbirds to 10.3 percent (13-9-39).
 
The third set saw the Spartans took control of the third set early and led 16-13 at the time out. But out of the break UBC was able to tie the set at 17-17. The two teams remained tied at 21-21, before the Spartans took four of the last five points to take the set 25-22. The two teams evened out offensively with TWU hitting 21.6 percent (12-4-37) and UBC hitting at 20.0 percent (13-6-35)
 
TWU was in total control of the fourth set jumping out to a 16-11 lead at the media break before taking the set 25-19 and the match 3-1. The Spartans had their best offence of the night in the final set hitting at 30.0 (17-5-40), while the Thunderbirds hit at 22.2 percent (11-3-36).
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans are now 17-42 overall in conference games against the Thunderbirds.
• TWU finished the night hitting at 21.1 (44-16-133), while UBC finished at 18.2 percent (47-23-132).
• The Spartans had 14 aces to the Thunderbirds nine.
• TWU also had a 10-9 edge in blocks, while UBC had a 58-51 edge in digs.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
"Nothing comes easy in War Memorial, every point you have to earn, every point you are going to have to battle for and tonight was no different. We haven't played in two months and we had some nerves and some jitters early. We needed to figure out the rhythm of the game again, how to deal with pressure and anxious moments and just how to rely on each other and how to work through those stressful scenarios. I thought we did a really remarkable job of bonding together and relying on each other in a rally tough gym to get a win in. Both of our setters set great and everybody did their really, really well tonight. A good performance tonight and we will take it."
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and the Thunderbirds will match up again tomorrow night in Vancouver. Match time at War Memorial gym at UBC is set for 5 p.m. The match 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.
 
-TW-