LANGLEY, B.C. – Kaden Schmidt had a match-high 24 kills to help lead the No. 2-ranked Spartans to a 3-2 (27-25, 22-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-11) win over Thompson Rivers Friday at the Langley Events Centre. 

The Spartans held off a strong effort from a resilient WolfPack side that twice rallied to even the match, sending it to a fifth-set with a five-point win in the fourth. With the score tied 9-9 in the fifth set, the Spartans finished the game with a 6-2 run, capped by three straight points – two kills from Schmidt and a match-winning ace from Anselm Rein. 

Rein, who finished with four aces to lead all servers on the day, had a match-high 51 assists, while Jackson Corneil had 10 kills and Kyden Dmitruk had nine kills. 

TRU was led by Alex Howard, who had 16 kills, Rylan Ibbetson, who had 14 kills and Daniel Hitchens, who had 11 kills. Jacob Leinemann had a game-high six blocks. Setter Walker Sodaro had 45 assists to go with 12 digs. 

The visitors' attack was the more efficient of the two teams throughout the night, with TRU hitting .352 compared to TWU's .279. The Spartans had 14 more attacks, with the teams finishing with 56 kills apiece. 

The WolfPack had a better hitting percentage in each of the first four sets, but in the decisive fifth set, the Spartans had their most efficient set of the night, hitting .538 to TRU's .333.  

TRU had a 14-6 edge in blocks. 

QUOTABLE
Adam Schriemer, TWU Head Coach
"Their outside hitters were awesome today. They scored in many different ways that we never had an answer for. Later on in the game, we started to get a better idea of the different shot variations they had and their different angles, but that was a hard game for us with our block defence. On our side, I just thought our inconsistency in every phase really hurt us. There wasn't one phase that we could really feel comfortable with after today. All phases were inconsistent, which was why today was so up and down. 

"TRU is so good. A four-win team in Canada West is very good because winning four games in Canada West is hard. We had our hands full today and we will again tomorrow."

NOTABLE
•    Schmidt has surpassed 20 kills six times this year and is averaging a Canada West leading 5.00 kills per set. 
•    Rein's four aces keeps him second in Canada West with 0.56 aces per set. He's also third in the conference in assists with 10.16 per set. 
•    TWU is 75-14 lifetime against TRU.
•    The Spartans are now riding an 12-match regular season winning streak against TRU. 

UP NEXT 
The rematch is Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre. 

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 in NAIA in cross country and track and field 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 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 CIS 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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