VANCOUVER – Led by middle Kaylee Plouffe's (Sherwood Park, Alta.) career best 13 kills the No. 1 ranked Trinity Western Spartans rolled past the No. 5 Dalhousie Tigers 3-0 in Saturday night's U SPORTS semi-final at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver, B.C. The 25-21, 25-17, 25-12 victory puts the Spartans one win away from back-to-back national titles.
 
Plouffe had an outstanding performance – hitting at a .722 clip while adding four blocks to her 13 kills to lead TWU, Meaghan Mealey (Calgary) put up 14 kills, three aces, and three blocks, while Mikayla Benterud (Clay) totalled nine kills with three blocks in the decisive victory. Brett Boldon (Fredericton, NB) led the Tigers with five kills, 16 assists, and three blocks, and Lucy Glen-Carter (Toronto) finished with four kills and three aces in the loss. TWU's Dora Komlodi (Calgary) finished the night with 44 set assists, while Dalhousie's Boldon finished with 16 set assists. The Spartans Emma Gamache (Abbotsford, B.C.) led all players with 17 digs, while Alessandra Nadaline led the Tigers with eight digs.
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The opening set had Dalhousie holding the early lead, 13-11. TWU responded and started to find their game. The Spartans took seven of the next nine points to lead 18-15 after a Mealey kill.  TWU continued to roll as they closed out the set playing side-out ball to take the opening game 25-22. TWU finished the set hitting an impressive .400 (19-5-35), while Dalhousie struggled at .071 (7-5-28).
 
In the second set the Spartans took control early and never looked back. TWU's Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) put the Spartans up 13-8 and forced the Tigers into a timeout. The break did not slow the Spartans as another kill from Mealey put TWU up 20-11, before the Spartans closed out the set with the dominant 25-17 win. TWU hit .267 (16-4-45), while Dalhousie hit at .140 (12-6-43).
 
The third set was back-and-forth early, with the Spartans not letting the ball fall on their side of the court. TWU led 12-8 after a Clay kill as the two teams battled for control. Then TWU's Odoom took over. A cross-court kill and a solo stuff block put TWU up 15-10. Another block by the Spartans Plouffe and Mealey gave TWU a 16-10 lead as the Tigers called time-out to slow the Spartans. From there the Spartans rolled taking the final set 25-12.
 
QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach 
"I really like how Dora distributed the ball tonight. She really found all of our hitters, especially our middles Kaylee and Mikayla at the top of their reach. And when they are there, they are really hard to stop. Dora did a really good job of finding space for all of our attackers. And we have a really balanced offence, it isn't just one player out there by themselves, so depending on the situations we are going to people the ball. Which makes us really tough to defend."
 
On the team digging the ball
"Emma leads our back court. She does a really good job of organizing things and finding the right spot, which allows us to get the ball up so that we can have a good tug on it."

NOTABLE
• Players of the match: TWU Kaylee Plouffe, Dalhousie Brett Boldon.
• The Spartans are now 3-1 lifetime, against the Tigers, 2-1 at the U SPORTS championships.
• The Spartans defeated No. 8 McGill 3-1 to advance to the semi-final, while the Tigers defeated No. 4 UQAM 3-0 in the other quarter final.
• The No. 5 Tigers advanced to the national championship as AUS champion defeating Acadia 2-1.
• TWU has won four straight Canada West championships and five of the last seven after defeating Mount Royal 3-0 in the CW final.
• The Spartans are the defending U SPORTS champions, beating MRU 3-1 last year in Calgary.
• The Spartans Komlodi's 44 set assists was one set off of the Canada West play-off record of 45. Plouffe's .722 attack percentage is sixth highest in Canada West play-off history.
• TWU finished the night hitting at .300 (51-15-120), while Dalhousie finished at .067 (22-15-105).
• The Spartans had the edge in blocks at 8-6, service aces 4-3, and digs 63-43.
• Tomorrow's championship is TWU's fourth national final, 2-1.
• TWU finished the season No. 1 in CW at 22-2, while Dalhousie finished No. 1 in the AUS at 17-3. The Spartans are now 7-0 in the post season, while Dalhousie is 5-2.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans now await the winner of No. 7-seeded UBC vs. No. 6 Manitoba in the finals on Sunday at 4:30 p.m. (Pacific), while Dalhousie will face the loser of the Thunderbirds vs. Bisons in the bronze medal game at 2:00 p.m. (Pacific) Sunday at War Memorial Gym. Both matches can be seen live on CBC/Sports on YouTube.
 
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.
 
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