LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans fell 3-0 to the No. 5 Alberta Pandas Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 25-20, 26-24, and 25-22 loss drops the Spartans to 5-8 in Canada West, while the win moves the Pandas to 10-3.
 
Third-year outside Maryn Boldon (Okotoks, Alta.) with 13 kills, and seven digs, and second-year outside Erika Bang (Calgary, Alta.) with 10 kills, and five digs led the Spartans. Abby Guezen with a game-high 17 kills, six digs, and three blocks, and Allie Moore with nine kills, four digs, and five blocks led the Pandas.
 
Third-year setter Sydney Gill (St. Catharines, Ont.) led the Spartan attack with 21 set assists, while her counterpart with the Pandas, Justine Kolody finished with 37 assists.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will look to earn a split with the Pandas when they match up again tomorrow night at the LEC. Game time is set for 4 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Canada West TV.
 
QUOTABLE
Trinity Western Head Coach Ryan Hofer
"We are in a hard part of our schedule. We're playing some really great teams. But I know that we're improving each week in practice. I know that we're getting better. ?It's just hard not to see the results on the weekend. So we're going to go back to the drawing board, we're going to make some adjustments, and we're going to keep getting better. And one of these days we're going to break through. We are just going to keep working hard and keeping our eyes on the process."

AS IT HAPPENED
In the opening set, Trinity Western fell to Alberta with a score of 25 to 20. Key highlights for the Spartans included Boldon contributing five kills, and fourth-year middle Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.) making successful blocks alongside first-year outside Sienna Driedger (Grunthal, Man.). Despite their efforts, Alberta's Guezen dominated with 10 kills, and the Pandas capitalized on a few attack errors from Trinity Western to secure the lead.
In the second set, was a tightly contested set, with Alberta getting the final two points to take the set 26-24. Boldon and Bang each contributed significantly, with Boldon recording 6 kills, including one that tied the score at 24-24, and Bang adding several key kills throughout the set. Despite a strong effort with service aces from second-year middle Isabella Stothart (Airdrie, Alta.) and Plouffe, the Spartans struggled with service errors and blocking, allowing the Pandas to edge out the win in a tightly contested set.
 
Trinity Western fell to the Pandas in the third set, losing 25-22. The set was close early but Alberta was able to get separation late in the set with a three-point lead, 21-18. TWU cut the lead to one point 20-21 late, but were unable to overcome the deficit as the Pandas took the match 3-0.
NOTABLE 

• The Spartans finished the night hitting at .183 (40-18-120), while the Pandas finished at .310 (49-13-116).
• Alberta out-blocked Trinity Western 11-5.
• The Spartans had a 4-2 edge in service aces.
• After starting the season 4-0 in CW, TWU has gone 1-8 over the last nine matches.
• After starting the season 0-3 in CW the Pandas have won 10 straight matches.
• The Spartans are currently 43-50 lifetime against the Pandas.
• TWU is 1-4 over the last five Canada West conference matches with the Pandas.

 
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 14 U SPORTS team championships and 34 Canada West team championships.
 
About Trinity Western University
Recognized for quality, TWU has received seven consecutive A+ rankings for Quality of Teaching and Learning, holds three Canada Research Chairs, and wins national championships in U SPORTS. More importantly, lives are changed at TWU through its whole-person, Christ-centred approach to education. With a wide array of undergraduate, graduate, and adult degree-completion programs, TWU equips leaders of character and competence to make a positive impact in the lives of others.
 
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