VICTORIA, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans women's rugby team split their Day 2 games to finish in third place at the Canada West Rugby 7s series Sunday at Wallace Field in Victoria, B.C. The Spartans finish the tournament with three wins and two losses to bring their overall record in CW Rugby 7s games to 7-3.
Third-year Centre/Wing
Ava Van Santen (Aldergrove, B.C.) finished the weekend with a team-high five tries over the two-day tournament, first-year Fly Half/Hook
Hailey Hibbs (Langley, B.C.) had two tries, fifth-year prop
Danika Dool (Chilliwack, B.C.) had two tries, first-year Wing
Kelsa Kempf (Langley, B.C.) had two tries, first-year Scrum Half
Hannah Hibbs (Langley, B.C.) and fourth-year back
Rachel Wood (Coquitlam, B.C.) had a single try for the Spartans. Fifth-year Scrum Half/Wing Isabelle Scholtens (Langley, B.C.) finished with eight points on four conversions, while fourth-year Centre/Wing Jenna de Greeff (Victoria, B.C.) finished with two points, on one conversion.
TWU opened the morning games with a 24-10 win over the Calgary Dinos before concluding the tournament with a 27-0 loss to the top-ranked UBC Thunderbirds.
The Thunderbirds finished 5-0 to capture the tournament title, followed by the host Vikes at 4-1. Trinity Western ended the weekend with a 3-2 clip, while Lethbridge earned its first wins of the weekend on day one and finished at 2-3 overall. Calgary and Alberta rounded out the field, with the Dinos grabbing a win on day two to end at 1-4, and the Pandas at 0-5.
NEXT UP
TWU will return to Langley, B.C. to finish the season for games on March 15-16 when the Spartans host the final event of the Canada West Rugby 7s Series at Willoughby Stadium at the Langley Events Centre. The Langley tournament was originally scheduled for Feb. 7-8 but was postponed due to weather conditions.
QUOTABLE
Trinity Western Coach Pose Seumanutafa
"The team played some of our best rugby this weekend. We didn't quite get the result we were after but the quality of our play and the growth and maturity the team showed was so encouraging. The future looks bright for the Spartans."
TWU Tournament Scoring
TRIES
Ava Van Santen - 5
Hailey Hibbs - 2
Danika Dool - 2
Kelsa Kempf - 2
Rachel Wood
Hannah Hibbs
CONVERSION
Isabelle Scholtens – 4
Jenna de Greeff
Tournament Standings
TEAM W L POINTS
1 UBC 5 0 10
2 Victoria 4 1 8
3 Trinity Western3 2 6
4 Lethbridge 2 3 4
5 Calgary 1 4 2
6 Alberta 0 5 1
* Win - 4 Points / Draw - 2 Points / Loss - 1 Point / No Show - 0 points
Canada West Series Standings
TEAM W L POINTS
1 UBC 10 0 20
2 Victoria 7 3 14
2 Trinity Western 7 3 14
4 Lethbridge 2 8 5
4 Alberta 2 8 5
6 Calgary 2 8 4
Point System: 1st Place - 10 points / 2nd Place - 8 points / 3rd Place - 6 points / 4th Place - 4 points / 5th Place - 2 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
Game 10: Trinity Western Spartans (24) vs Calgary Dinos (10)
1 2 T
TWU 5 19 24
CGY 10 0 10
CGY try - #11 Melody Kivia (convert missed) 5-0 CGY
TWU try - #7
Kelsa Kempf (convert missed) 5-5
CGY try - #7 Makayla Joseph (convert missed) 10-5 CGY
HALF
TWU try - #8
Hannah Hibbs (convert #5 Jenna DeGreeff) 12-10 TWU
TWU try - #7
Kelsa Kempf (convert #4 Isabelle Scholtens) 19-10 TWU
TWU try - #6
Ava Van Santen (convert missed) 24-10 TWU
Game 15: Trinity Western Spartans (0) vs UBC Thunderbirds (10)
1 2 T
UBC 22 5 27
TWU 0 0 0
UBC try - #7 Skye Farish (convert #7 Skye Farish) 7-0 UBC
UBC try - #15 Shalaya Valenzuela (convert missed) 12-0 UBC
UBC try - #11 Adia Pye (convert missed) 17-0 UBC
UBC try - #15 Shalaya Valenzuela (convert missed) 22-0 UBC
HALF
UBC try - #14 Brooke Roddham (convert missed) 27-0 UBC
NOTABLE
- Van Santen now has 10 tries on the season, Hailey Hibbs has five, Dool has four, and de Greeff has four to lead the Spartans.
- 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.
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