VANCOUVER – With a balanced attack No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans earned a spot in the U SPORTS semi-final with a four set victory over the No. 8 McGill Martlets Friday afternoon at the War Memorial Gym in Vancouver, B.C. The Spartans had four players with double-digit kills as they defeated the Martlets 25-16, 22-25, 25-23, 25-13.
 
Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) put up a match-best 20 kills with four blocks for the Spartans, Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.) had an efficient 15 kills on .591 hitting, Meaghan Mealey (Calgary) totalled 15 kills, while all-Canadian Savannah Purdy (Victoria) had 10 kills, and Dora Komlodi (Calgary) doled out a whopping 56 assists in the four-set win. Clara Poiré (Blainville, PQ) notched 16 kills and four total blocks for the RSEQ finalist Martlets, while Victoria Iannotti (Montreal) had 11 kills with 12 digs and a solo block in the loss.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
In the opening set the two teams were even early. With TWU holding the slight lead 11-10 nearing the halfway point of the set. Then Mikayla Clay (Benterud) (Sherwood Park, Alta.) went on a serving run to blow open the set and give TWU a 16-10 lead. The Spartans continued to roll through the opening set taking a 1-0 set lead with the 25-16 win. TWU hit at .222 (15-5-45), while McGill hit at .049 (9-7-41) in the opening set.
 
In the second set McGill had the early momentum and led 11-8 after a service ace by Charlotte Chouinard-Laliberte (Montreal). TWU closed the margin to one point, trailing 12-11. The Spartans again took control in the middle part of the set with a 5-0 run to lead 16-12. The teams played side-out ball for the next few points, then McGill went on a run late to cut the TWU lead to two points, 24-22 after a kill by Rachel Leduc (Montreal). The Spartans took a timeout and then Plouffe put the set away with the final kill to give TWU the set 25-22 and a 2-0 lead. TWU improved slightly to .227 (17-7-44), while McGill had a big improvement to .225 (13-4-40).
 
In the third set McGill carried the rhythm the found at the end of the second set into the third set. The Martlets quickly jumped out to 9-5 lead and kept going. McGill expanded their lead to six points, 20-14 after a service ace by Charlene Robitaille (St. Jean, PQ).  TWU closed the gap late, trailing by four points, 22-18. McGill got to set point first with a sizable 24-18 lead after a kill by Rachel Leduc. TWU's Odoom got the serve back for the Spartans where TWU's Purdy went on a serving run to cut the Martlets lead to 24-23. But McGill's Poire got the final point for the Martlets to take set 25-23. Cutting the TWU in half 2-1.Both teams attacks improved in the third set. TWU finished at .324 (14-3-34), while McGill hit at .333 (16-3-39).
 
Trinity Western came out strong in the fourth set and jumped out to an 8-4 lead. The Spartans continued to double-up on the Martlets and pushed their lead to 16-8. From their TWU never looked back as they took the final set 25-13 and the match 3-1. TWU had a dominant attack in the final set hitting at .459 (20-3-37), while McGill hit at .226 (7-0-31).

QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach 
Full props to McGill. They have worked hard over this past year and they played great volleyball. They play well both on offence and defence, so it really forced us to figure out what we were doing on our side. Dig up a few balls and making sure we could capitalize on what we did well.
 
On improving in the fourth set
In the third set you had two teams playing great volleyball, but we came out on the short end so in the fourth we had to get a little sharper. We needed to clean up a few things and we were able to do that.
 
On four players having double-digits in kills
We have tried to have a balanced attack all year. It is one of our assets. We don't have a player who gets 70 swings a night. It's going to be pretty balanced between all our players. We want to create a situation where our opponent has to make decisions on what they are going to do.

NOTABLE
• Players of the match: TWU Ansah Odoom, McGill Clara Poire.
• The Spartans are now 6-1 lifetime, against the Martlets, 2-0 at the U SPORTS championships.
• The Spartans defeated Mount Royal 3-0 in the Canada West gold medal match last weekend to qualify as the No. 1 seed.
• The No. 8 Martlets advanced to the national championship as RSEQ No. 2 losing 2-0 to the UQAM.
• TWU has won four straight Canada West championships and five of the last seven.
• The Spartans are the defending U SPORTS champions.
• TWU finished the night hitting at .300 (66-18-160), while McGill finished at .205 (45-14-151).
• The Martlets had the edge in blocks at 9-6, while both teams had six service aces.
• Trinity Western had 81 digs, while McGill had 62.
• The Spartans had five players reach double-digits in digs, with Emma Gamache (Abbotsford, B.C.) leading the pack at 18. Charlene Robitaille led the Martlets with 16 digs.
• TWU finished the season No. 1 in CW at 22-2, while McGill finished No. 2 in the RSEQ at 12-6. The Spartans are now 6-0 in the post season, while McGill is 2-4.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now match up with AUS champion No. 5 Dalhousie in the U SPORTS semi-final. Dalhousie defeated No. 4 UQAM 3-0 in the earlier quarter-final match. The semi-final is set for Saturday, March 18 at 6 p.m. PT. TWU is 1-1 at the U SPORTS championship against the Dalhousie Tigers. Their last national championship battle was February 28, 2014, with the Tigers prevailing 3-1. TWU had won the previous year 3-0. McGill will play UQAM tomorrow afternoon in a rematch of the RSEQ final.
 
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 13 U SPORTS team championships and 32 Canada West team championships.
 
-TW-