VICTORIA, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans women's rugby team finished the opening day of the Canada West Rugby 7s series in Victoria with two wins and one loss Saturday at Wallace Field in Victoria, B.C.
 
TWU opened the day with a 10-5 win over the Lethbridge Pronghorns before losing their second match to the Victoria Vikes 36-12. The Spartans finished their day with a solid 34-7 win over the Alberta Pandas.
 
Third-year Centre/Wing Ava Van Santen (Aldergrove, B.C.) was impressive on the day finishing with four tries for a 20-point day. With fifth-year prop Danika Dool (Chilliwack, B.C.) and first-year Fly Half/Hook Hailey Hibbs (Langley, B.C.) each having two tries for a 10-point day. Fifth-year Scrum Half/Wing Isabelle Scholtens (Langley, B.C.) finished with six points on three conversions.
 
After the first day of games, the UBC Thunderbirds are in the top spot with three wins, Victoria, TWU, and Lethbridge all sit at 2-1, while Calgary and Alberta remain winless at 0-3. The tournament wraps up tomorrow with all six teams playing two matches to complete the round-robin event.
 
NEXT UP
Day 2 sees the Spartans take on Calgary at 11 a.m. (PT) before wrapping up the round-robin tournament against the UBC Thunderbirds at 2:29 p.m. (PT).
 
QUOTABLE
Trinity Western Head Coach Andrew Evans
"A great day overall against three tough teams. To come out 2-1 on the day is something to build upon for tomorrow."
 
"Lethbridge are always tough and determined and we had to grind out that win. Against Victoria, the bounces didn't always go our way and Victoria was good at finishing their chances. In our last match, our Spartans clicked and had great support to set up a number of tries against Alberta."
 
"We have now had a good pool recovery session and a family meal at the De Greeff's (Thank you!) ahead of two tough opponents in Calgary and UBC tomorrow."
 
TRIES
Ava Van Santen - 4
Danika Dool - 2
Hailey Hibbs - 2
Kelsa Kempf
Rachel Wood
 
CONVERSION
Isabelle Scholtens - 3
 
STANDINGS – Through Day 1
            TEAM              W         L            POINTS
1          UBC                3          0            12
2          Victoria            2          1            9
2          Lethbridge      2          1            9
2          Trinity Western2         1            9
5          Calgary           0          3            3
5          Albert              0          3            3
* Win - 4 Points / Draw - 2 Points / Loss - 1 Point / No Show - 0 points

Game 1: Trinity Western Spartans (10) vs Lethbridge Pronghorns (5)
Scoring Summary:
            1          2          T
TWU    5          5          10
LETH  0          5          5
 
TWU try - #6 Ava Van Santen (convert missed) 5-0 TWU
HALF
TWU try - #3 Danika Dool (convert missed) 10-0 TWU
LET try - #10 Zina Umeh (convert missed) 10-5 TWU
 
Game 6: Victoria Vikes (36) vs Trinity Western Spartans (12)
 
            1          2          T
VIC      10        26        36
TWU    12        0          12
 
VIC try - #12 Larah Wright (convert missed) 5-0 VIC
TWU try - #7 Kelsa Kempf (convert #4 Isabelle Scholtens) 7-5 TWU
VIC try - #9 Justine Blatt-Janmaat (convert missed) 10-7 VIC
TWU try - #3 Danika Dool (convert missed) 12-10 TWU
HALF
VIC try - #9 Justine Blatt-Janmaat (convert missed) 15-12 VIC
VIC try - #6 Vanessa Chiappetta (convert #10 Summer Blackmore) 22-12 VIC
VIC try - #2 Olivia Newsome (convert #10 Summer Blackmore) 29-12 VIC
VIC try - #2 Olivia Newsome (convert #10 Summer Blackmore) 36-12 VIC
 
Game 8: Trinity Western Spartans (34) vs Alberta Pandas (7)
 
            1          2          T
TWU    14        20        34
ALB     0          7          7
 
TWU try - #6 Ava Van Santen (convert #4 Isabelle Scholtens) 7-0 TWU
TWU try - #15 Hailey Hibbs (convert #4 Isabelle Scholtens) 14-0 TWU
HALF
TWU try - #15 Hailey Hibbs (convert missed) 19-0 TWU
TWU try -  #1 Rachel Wood (convert missed) 24-0 TWU
TWU try - #6 Ava Van Santen (convert missed) 29-0 TWU
ALB try - #13 Halle Walters (convert #7 Keira Skrenek) 29-7 TWU
TWU try - #6 Ava Van Santen (convert missed) 34-7 TWU
 
NOTABLE 

• The Spartans enter this weekend at  4-1 after finishing second in the season's first tournament in Edmonton, Alta.
• TWU's Van Santen was named to the Rugby 7's Dream Team after the opening tournament.
• The Spartans' second-place finish in Edmonton was the program's best finish, their previous best was a third-place result at the Vancouver tournament in 2024.

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.
 
-TW-