LANGLEY, British Columbia– The Trinity Western Spartans used a solid offence and timely digs to defeat the visiting Regina Cougars 3-0 Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 25-19, 25-21, 25-16 win improves the Spartans to 12-5, while the loss drops the Cougars to 5-12.
 
Fourth-year outside Maryn Boldon (Okotoks, Alta.) with 12 kills, seven digs, and one aces, and fifth-year middle Kaylee Plouffe (Sherwood Park, Alta.) with 10 kills, eight digs, and two aces, and second-year outside Sienna Driedger (Grunthal, Man.) with eight kills, six digs, and one block led the Spartans.
 
Jordy McEachern with eight kills and four digs and Anna Sxhultz with six kills, six digs, and two blocks led the Cougars
 
TWU second-year setter Tayana Dmitruk (Surrey, B.C.) ran the Spartan attack, finishing with 33 set assists. Regina's Cassadi Klapak finished with 17 set assists.
 
UP NEXT
The Spartans and the Cougars will finish of the two-game series tomorrow night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. Match time is set for 6 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Canada West  TV. TWU is the host of the U SPORTS championship, which begins March 13 at the Langley Events Centre.
  
QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer, TWU Head Coach
"This Regina team has been playing really well, and I expected a good battle tonight. ?I thought, offensively, we were really strong tonight, and I think there's some other things that we need to clean up. I don't feel that we played very clean volleyball tonight. But there were some good things that we did. So if we start to clean up a few things on our end, whether it's communication, whether it's responsibilities, whether it's part of the game plan, I think we can take another level up."

AS IT HAPPENED
The opening set was even in the early stages with TWU holding a slim 15-14 lead after a Boldon kill. The two teams played side-out ball to 19-18 for the Spartans. Then TWU took over and used a 6-1 run to take the opening set 25-19. TWU hit at .263 (16-6-38), while Regina hit at .000 (6-6-35).
 
Regina had a better start to the second set and quickly jumped out to a 10-5 lead and forced TWU to take a timeout. Out of the break the Spartans found some rhythm and cut the Cougars lead to two-points, trailing 11-9, after a Plouffe kill, with Regina taking a timeout. The timeout helped the Cougars as Regina quickly regained control with a 5-1 run to lead 16-10 after an ace by Zoey Thompson, with the Spartans taking their second timeout. In a back-and-forth set TWU again cut the lead to two-points, trailing 16-14, after a 4-0 run, with Regina taking another timeout. Out of the time-out TWU continued to roll and took the lead 18-17 after a Isabella Stothart kill. The Cougars tied the set at 18-18, but then the Spartans took over and used a 7-3 run to take the second set 25-21, and a 2-0 set lead. The Spartans hit at .294 (15-5-34), while the Cougars hit at .114 (10-6-35).
 
TWU carried the momentum in the third set and after an ace by Stothart led 8-3. Regina managed to cut the deficit to two points, 10-8, after a Cassadi Klapak service ace. But the Spartans responded with a 4-0 run after a Stothart kill, with Regina taking a timeout with TWU up 14-8. The Spartans continued to control the remainder of the set and after a Regina net violation, took the match 3-0 with a 25-1 third set win. The Spartans finished the set hitting at .500 (13-0-26), while the Cougars finished at .143 (9-5-28).
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans finished the night hitting at .337 (44-11-98), while the Cougars finished at .071 (24-17-98).
• Regina had the edge in service aces 4-3.
• TWU had the edge in blocks 5-4 and digs 47-35.
• The Spartans are currently 44-18 lifetime against the Regina Cougars
• TWU has now won 10 straight conference matches against Regina.
• The Spartans last loss to the Cougars was 3-2 on January 19, 2018 at home in Langley, B.C.
• Last week, the Spartans swept the UBC Okanagan Heat 3-2 both nights on the road at the UBC Okanagan Gymnasium in Kelowna, B.C.
• Last week the Cougars split with the Brandon Bobcats winning 3-2 and losing 3-0 on the road in Brandon, Man.
• Entering the match, the Spartans, who are in fifth place, trail the TRU WolPack and Manitoba Bisons who are both tied for third at 12-4, by one win. The top four teams host opening playoff rounds.

 
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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