KELOWNA, British Columbia– The No. 2 Trinity Western Spartans came just short of a five set comeback as they fell in five sets to the No. 3 UBC Okanagan Heat in a five-set marathon Saturday night at the UBC Okanagan Gym in Kelowna, B.C. The 25-18, 22-25, 25-17, 26-28, 15-11 loss drops the Spartans to 13-3, while the win improves the Heat to 14-2.
 
Fourth-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with 23 kills and seven digs, fifth-year middle Liam Remple (Vernon, B.C.) with eight kills, and three blocks, and fifth-year middle Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.) with seven kills, five blocks, and two aces led the Spartans. Seba Manuel, with 17 kills and five digs, and two blocks, and Thys Westrate with 17 kills, 10 digs, and seven blocks led the Heat.
 
Fifth-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) ran the Spartans' attack and finished with 44 set assists to go with two aces, four digs, and three blocks. Zach van Geel finished the night with 49 assists to go with 12 digs while running the Heat's offence.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now have a bye week before they host the Saskatchewan Huskies on February 6-7. Match times are set for 7 p.m. (PT) and 5 p.m. (PT) and will be available to watch live on Canada West TV.
 
QUOTABLE
Adam Schriemer, TWU Head Coach
"We are really proud of our guys for the way that they competed through that game and this weekend. This was a hard team to play against in their gym. And we are proud of the guys for the way they fought back. We were down in the fourth set 17-12 but they found a way to grind through and come back, which was really impressive.
 
"We talked about with our guys, that one of the best parts about playing great teams is they expose some volleyball specific things that are inadequate and that we have to get better at, and I think that's what UBCO showed us today. We weren't able to stop them at a lot of different times and they had a good handle on some of our spikers, so there's some errors in our block D and offence that they showed us that we got to get better at. The best part is we have a bye week to get fresh and to get better and UBCO showed some things that we can get better at and we'll work on that next week."
 
AS IT HAPPENED
UBCO took control early in the first set with a strong start, capitalizing on multiple attack errors by Trinity Western to establish a lead. The Heat squad was efficient on the block, with Westrate and Manuel contributing crucial defence, resulting in key points during a late run. Van Geel facilitated the offence with multiple assists, leading to a 25-18 set win, highlighted by a decisive service ace and a final kill by Lukas Woelders.
 
The Spartans capitalized on early momentum in the second set, building a 5-1 lead with a service ace and effective blocking, including two attack errors forced by Van Huizen and Schoenherr. UBCO struggled with consistency, committing six service errors, which contributed to their inability to close the gap despite Manuel's three kills. The set concluded with Trinity Western securing a 25-22 win, with Schmidt delivering the final point off an assist from Rein.
 
UBCO dominated the third set, capitalizing on a strong serving performance led by van Geel, who contributed three service aces. The home team effectively neutralized Trinity Western's attack with key blocks, including two consecutive blocks by van Geel on Kyden Dmitruk, which widened the lead. The Heat's offensive efforts were bolstered by van Driel's consistent kills, resulting in a 25-17 advantage by the end of the set.
 
In a tightly contested fourth set, UBCO and TWU exchanged leads frequently, culminating in a narrow 28-26 finish in favour of Trinity Western. UBCO capitalized on early momentum with service aces and crucial kills from Manuel and Westrate, yet were offset by a series of service errors that allowed the Spartans to remain competitive. Despite the Heat's strong blocking efforts, Trinity Western's timely attacks, particularly from Schmidt and Zack Yewchuk, helped them edge out the set.
 
The Heat claimed the fifth set 15-11, capitalizing on a series of attack errors by Trinity Western to maintain the edge. Key contributions came from Westrate and Ashton South, who each registered multiple kills, while the defence was bolstered by timely blocks, including a decisive one by van Geel and South against Dmitruk.
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans finished the night hitting at .252 (54-21-131), while the Heat finished at .353 (63-15-136).
• UBCO had the edge in service aces 7-6, blocks 12-10, and digs 4-42.
• The Spartans are currently 47-6 lifetime against the Heat.
• Last night the Spartans defeated the Heat 3-2 winning 21-25, 27-25, 20-25, 25-15, 15-11. 

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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