ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – Trinity Western kept it close with the No. 5-ranked UFV Cascades, but came up short, losing 3-0 (26-24, 25-20, 25-23) Friday at the UFV Athletic Centre. 
 
With the loss, the Spartans see their record fall to 6-12 with two matches remaining in the regular season. The win pushes UFV to a Canada West leading 16-2. 
 
Maryn Boldon had a team-high 13 kills to go with two aces, while Kaylee Plouffe had 10 kills and 11 digs. Tayana Dmitruk had a team-high 24 assists to go with five digs. Payton Lightfoot added four kills without a single attacking error on six attempts. 
 
The Cascades were led by Talia Attieh, who had 17 kills, while Lauren Attieh had nine kills. Cailin Bitter had 26 assists to lead an offence that hit .218 on the night.
 
The Spartans were held to a .093 hitting percentage. 
 
UFV had a 7-6 edge in aces, but committed 11 serving errors to TWU's three. The Cascades won the blocking battle with nine blocks to TWU's three. 
 
The Spartans are now tied with Calgary for ninth in the Canada West standings. With 10 teams making the postseason and the seventh and eighth-place teams hosting the opening round play-in series against the 10th and ninth-place teams, respectively, next weekend's two-match series with Saskatchewan, who sits in seventh with a 10-8 record, looms large in terms of playoff implications. 
 
AS IT HAPPENED 
The first set looked to be going UFV's way early on, with the home team taking a 5-1 lead before extending their edge to 17-10. However, the Spartans clawed their way back, eventually staving on set point twice to even the set 24-24 after a Boldon ace. However, the Cascades grabbed the next two points to win the set on back-to-back TWU attacking errors. 
 
In the second set, the Spartans went ahead 11-10, but then UFV took over with a 6-1 run that turned the set in the Cascades favour. TWU never got closer than three points the rest of the set. 
 
The third set was all Cascades in the opening stages, with UFV going ahead 10-2, which forced TWU to burn their second timeout of the set. But once again, TWU rallied, with the Spartans tying the set 19-19 after a block from Plouffe and Faye Murray. A Boldon kill held off one match point, but a kill from UFV's Talia Attieh sealed the win at 25-23.
 
NOTABLE
·       Kaylee Plouffe is now one block shy of hitting 250 blocks in her Canada West career.
·       TWU owns a 13-2 record against UFV all-time. 
·       The Spartans are 3-1 all-time against the Cascades at the UFV Athletic Centre.
 
UP NEXT
TWU will host Saskatchewan Feb. 14-15 at the Langley Events Centre. 
 
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 and women's and men's disc golf. 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 CIS 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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