WINDSOR, Ontario – In front of a large home crowd, the  No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans held off a determined Windsor Lancers team to advance to the U SPORTS BioSteel 2026 championship match with a 3-1 win Saturday night at the Toldo Lancer Centre in Windsor, Ont. The Spartans looked like they had a sweep in the making, winning the first two sets 25-21 and 25-15, but the Lancers battled back, taking the third set 27-25 before falling in the final set 25-22 to the Spartans.

Four-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with 24 kills and six digs, and third-year outside Piers De Greeff (Victoria, B.C.) finished the game with 15 kills and six aces for Trinity Western, while fifth-year middle Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.) added seven kills and three blocks.
 
Fifth-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany), who was named player of the match for Trinity Western, led his team's attack with 44 assists while adding two kills, serving two aces, and making seven digs.
 
Gustavo Siqueira led the Lancers offensively with 13 kills and was named Windsor's player of the game. Darian Koskie added seven kills and four assists, while Conaire Taub had nine kills in the loss.
 
UP NEXT
The No. 1 Spartans will now match up with the No. 7 UBC Thunderbirds in the U SPORTS gold medal match tomorrow night at 6 p.m. (ET) at the Toldo Lancer Centre in Windsor, Ont. The match can be seen live on CBC Gem.
 
QUOTABLE
Adam Schriemer, TWU head coach:
"First off, what an atmosphere. The University of Windsor had a great crowd tonight, and that was a really fun environment for student-athletes to play in. Really happy to see the toughness for our guys, in really, really hard conditions to play in.  The guys were able to play really clean in the first two sets, and the Windsor team put so much pressure on us and never let up.  These games are about surviving and advancing, and we did that today.  We have one more shot tomorrow that we can't be more excited for.  This group is so fun to watch, and I can't wait to watch and play one last time tomorrow."
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The Spartans took control of the game early, displaying a balanced attack and applying pressure on their serves to win the first two sets. Trinity Western was effective on offense in the opening set, with Schmidt and Piers De Greeff consistently finding openings despite Windsor's attempts to block, thus helping the Canada West champions gain momentum.
 
Windsor responded in the third inning with the support of the crowd. The Lancers battled throughout a tight set that saw several ties before finally taking a 27-25 lead over the Spartans to extend the game.
 
Trinity Western regained control of the game in the fourth inning, taking the lead midway through thanks to solid play from Schmidt and De Greeff. The Spartans maintained their lead down the stretch before closing out the game 25-22, thus securing their place in the national final.

NOTABLE

• The Spartans finished the night hitting at .291 (56-22-117) while the Lancers finished at .215 (4).1-18-107
• Windsor had the edge in blocks 13-3.5.
• The Spartans led the Lancers in digs 38-34, and aces 10-2.
• UBC defeated Manitoba 3-1 in the other U SPORTS semifinal.
• The last time the Spartans met the Thunderbirds in the U SPORTS championship was in 2018 at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont., where the UBC defeated TWU 3-0 in the gold medal match.
• The Spartans and Thunderbirds have met 94 times, with TWU holding a 64-30 advantage.

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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