SASKATOON, Saskatchewan – The Trinity Western Spartans season came to an end after a tough 3-0 loss to the Saskatchewan Huskies Saturday afternoon in the best-of-three Canada West quarter-final series at the Physical Activity Centre in Saskatoon, Sask. The 25-21, 25-23, 25-22 win sends the Huskies to the Canada West Final Four next weekend in Winnipeg, where they will match up with the Winnipeg Wesmen.
 
Third-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with 17 kills, five digs, three aces, and three blocks, and second-year outside Piers De Greef (Victoria, B.C.) with nine kills, six digs, and two blocks, led the Spartans. Jacob Baird with 13 kills and four digs, and Isaiah Mamer with 12 kills, and five digs led the Huskies.
 
Fourth-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) finished with 34 set assists, six digs, and three aces running the Spartans attack. While Noah Opseth finished with 40 assists and four digs for the Huskies.
 
QUOTABLE
Trinity Western Head Coach Adam Schriemer
"All season this group played with lots of different lineups. We felt really comfortable with the group we had for the last four weeks, we were finally healthy. I was proud of their resiliency and ability to just, try lots of different lineups and lots of different styles of volleyball. I think that was pretty cool to just see the different ways we could play. But at the end of the day, our faith and our belief in each other was just so noticeable, even in some tough sections when we were down a lot today there was never any quit in our guys.  I think Sask just played at a higher level consistently today, but I loved our competitiveness and the toughness that we showed. We just weren't clean enough at volleyball."
 
"In the playoffs often not a lot of things work for long periods and I think we felt that a lot this weekend. Sask put a lot of pressure on us in a lot of different ways, in every single phase. In the playoffs, rarely, do you play great. Rarely, do you play clean. Our opponents this weekend, we're just a little bit better than us. And that was the difference. I'm proud of this group. They've worked their butts off and they've battled like Spartans do. We weren't as good as we could have been executing as much as our opponents today. Kayden Schmidt this weekend and today was spectacular. We're really happy to see him stepping up in big moments. This one stings, it hurts. We're going to feel this for the rest of our careers, as we should, but as always. proud of our guys."
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Huskies were dominant early in the match as they jumped out to an early seven-point 10-3, lead Morrow and Graham blocked de Greeff. The Spartans gradually crawled back into the set with a three-point run to cut the deficit to three points, 13-10 after a Schmidt service ace. The Spartans continued to gain ground and used an 8-5 run to cut the margin to one point, 19-18 after a Rein service ace. But the Huskies regained their early form to close out the set with a 6-3 run to take the set 25-21. TWU hit .242 (13-5-33), while Saskatchewan hit.367 (14-3-30). The Spartans had three aces and five service errors, while the Huskies had one ace and two errors.
 
Saskatchewan was again strong to start taking an early 11-7 lead and put TWU into a timeout after a Mamer kill. Out of the Spartans gathered momentum with a 7-1 run to take a 14-12 lead and put the Huskies into a timeout after a service ace by Schmidt. The Huskies came out of the break and tied the set at 15-15 with a service ace by Jacob Baird. The teams played side-out ball to 22-22 when the Huskies were able to use a kill by Morrow and a Spartans attack error to get to set point with a 24-22 lead. TWU's Schmidt held off the first point with a pipe kill to make it 24-23 for the Huskies. But Saskatchewan's Baird went hard down the middle to give the Huskies the set 25-23 and a 2-0 lead. TWU hit .321 (12-3-28), while Saskatchewan hit .300 (14-5-30). The Spartans had three service aces and four errors, while the Huskies had four aces and three errors.
 
The third set was even to 10-10. Saskatchewan then took the next two points to lead 12-10, but TWU scrambled back and after a Schmidt kill had tied the set at 14-14. But the Huskies forced the Spartans into a timeout after a kill by Mamer made it a three-point run for Saskatchewan to lead 17-14. Noah Opseth got the next point for the Huskies and the Spartans were forced to use their second timeout, trailing 18-14. Out of the break, TWU took the next two points as a service ace by Rein put the Huskies into a timeout with an 18-16 lead. Mamer got the next two points for Saskatchewan to make it a four-point lead, 20-16 for the Huskies. After the Huskies made it a five-point lead, 21-16, TWU was able to take the next two points, to trail 21-18. Mamer got the Huskies back to four points, 22-18, but TWU's Schmidt and de Greeff got two points back as the Spartans trailed 22-20. After a Huskies point by Baird, a Spartans point by de Greeff, and a kill by Saskatchewan's Graham the Huskies had match point at 24-21. A Huskie service error made it 24-22 before Graham closed out the match for the Huskies with a 25-22 set win and the match 3-0. TWU hit .273 (13-4-33), while Saskatchewan hit .484 (16-1-31). The Spartans had one ace and three service errors, while the Huskies had one ace and four service errors.
 
NOTABLE 

• TWU finished the night hitting .277 (38-12-94), while Saskatchewan hit at .385 (44-9-91).
• The Spartans had six blocks, while the Huskies had 4.5 blocks.
• TWU had seven aces, while Saskatchewan had six. The Spartans finished with 12 service errors, while the Huskies finished with nine.
• Saskatchewan had 37 digs to Trinity Western's 30.
• This afternoon's loss breaks the Spartans' Canada West record of 12 straight seasons of making it to the Canada West gold medal match.
• The Spartans lost to Huskies 3-2 (33-31, 23-25, 25-21, 20-25, 15-10) on Friday night in Saskatoon, Sask.
• The Spartans rallied to defeat the Huskies 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-22, 15-13) in game one Thursday night.
• The No. 8 Spartans finished in fifth place in Canada West at 12-8, while the No. 6 Huskies finished fourth at 14-6.
• The Spartans are currently 44-23 lifetime against the Huskies.
• TWU is now 4-6 over their last 10 matches with Saskatchewan.

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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