BRANDON, Manitoba – The Trinity Western Spartans used a solid offence and a stingy defence to earn a weekend sweep with a 3-0 victory over the Brandon Bobcats Saturday afternoon at the Healthy Living Centre in Brandon, Man. It is the first time the Spartans have swept the Bobcats in Brandon since November 11-12, 2011.
The 25-19, 25-20, 25-18 win improves the Spartans to 12-2, while the loss drops the Bobcats to 5-9 in Canada West conference play.
The Spartans finished the night hitting .298, with only nine attack errors, while the Bobcats struggled on offence hitting only .011 with 26 errors in the three sets.
Fourth-year outside
Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.), with 10 kills, five digs, three blocks, and one ace, second-year setter
Willem Van Huizen (Langley, B.C.) with nine kills, five digs, and three assists, and fourth-year outside
Kyden Dmitruk (Surrey, B.C.), with seven kills, nine digs, and one assist led the Spartans. Liam Pauls with 10 kills, and five digs, and Tom Friesen with 10 kills, three digs, and three aces led the Bobcats.
TWU fifth-year setter
Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) ran the Spartan attack, finishing with 27. Brandon's Kale Fisher ran the Bobcats offence and finished with 20 set assists.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will remain on the road next week, heading to Kelowna, B.C., to take on the UBC Okanagan Heat on January 22-23. Match times are set for 7:30 p.m. (PT) and 6:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Canada West TV.
QUOTABLE
Adam Schriemer, TWU Head Coach
"Pumped for our guys to have this type of match, where our block defence can be so clean, with Kyden and Willem upgrading overnight, while doing it on the second night in Brandon."
"We talked with the team about how we haven't swept in Brandon since the 2011-2012 season. This place is a hard place to play, and it's an incredibly hard place to get wins, an even harder place to get two wins. So that's where I really pumped with the guys."
"Another thing that stands out is our programs play in the middle position. One of the things over the many years of this school, we've done a good job of recruiting, evaluating, recruiting, and developing middle blockers. And we saw that this weekend with Corey's and Jackson's plays. And we didn't even see guys like Liam and Chuck get on the floor. Really happy with the play of our middles and really happy to see Kyden and Willem upgrade overnight. They were awesome for us tonight."
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans controlled the opening from the set, taking an early 8-2 lead. TWU continued to hold the advantage, leading 17-12, before taking the first set 25-19. TWU hit at .370 (13-3-27), while Brandon hit at -.037 (7-8-27).
The second set was even through the first 40 points, with the teams tied at 20-20. Then the Spartans took over, scoring five straight points to take a 2-0 set lead with the 25-20 second-set win. The Spartans hit at .273 (12-3-33), while the Bobcats hit at .000 (9-9-30).
TWU carried their momentum into the final set, taking a 16-9 lead midway through the set. The Spartans never looked back as they took the match 3-0 with the 25-18 third set win. TWU hit at .250 (9-3-24), while Brandon hit at .057 (11-9-35).
NOTABLE
- The Spartans finished the night hitting at .298 (34-9-84), while the Bobcats finished at .011 (27-26-92).
- The Spartans had the edge in blocks 12-6. Brandon had a 4-2 edge in aces. While both teams finished with 31 digs.
- The Spartans are currently 36-17 lifetime against the Brandon Bobcats.
- TWU last swept Brandon in Brandon on November 11-12, 2011, with 3-0 and 3-1 wins. TWU would finish that season going 24-1 in conference and postseason play to win their second straight national title.
- The Spartans defeated the Bobcats 3-1 Friday night at the Healthy Living Centre in Brandon, Manitoba.
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women's and men's soccer, volleyball, basketball, hockey and track & field, as well as women's rugby sevens. TWU also competes as in the NAIA in track and field and cross country and 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 33 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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