VANCOUVER, British Columbia– The Trinity Western Spartans were dominant in all phases of tonight's semi-final sweep of the No. 5 Alberta Golden Bears at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver, B.C. The Spartans, who led in every notable statistical category, defeated the third-place Bears 25-16, 25-23, and 25-15 to advance to the Canada West gold medal match and earn a place at next week's U SPORTS championship.
 
Fourth-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with 13 kills, third-year outside Piers De Greeff (Victoria, B.C.) with 11 kills, three blocks, and two digs, and fifth-year middle Jackson Corneil (Surrey, B.C.) with seven kills and six blocks led the Spartans. Dylan Martens, with nine kills, and Owen Harris, with five kills, led the Golden Bears.
 
TWU fifth-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) ran the Spartan attack, finishing with 33 set assists. Alberta's Luke Weddell finished with 23 set assists for the Bears.
 
UP NEXT
The No. 2 Spartans will now play in the gold medal match against the fourth-ranked No. 8 Manitoba Bisons, who upset the No. 1 UBC Thunderbirds 3-0 in the first semi-final. Both teams will also advance to the U SPORTS championship next week in Windsor, Ont.
 
QUOTABLE
Adam Schriemer, TWU Head Coach
"It was the combination of our serving, our blocking, and our defence, I think all of that as a whole was pretty aligned tonight. I thought Joel [Jansen], our assistant coach with our serving plan, was pretty dialed, and then we were able to get them out of system."
 
Schriemer on the Bisons
"We don't know them too much. They're one of the teams we didn't play this year, and it's a quick turnaround. I think this time of year, we've just got to be focusing on our strengths, and the nice part is that our veteran group is playing pretty hot right now. We know they're great, but we've got to apply a lot of pressure on them, and that starts with the serve."
 
AS IT HAPPENED
The opening set featured strong play from start to finish for the Spartans, who hit .357 as a team while forcing the Golden Bears into a -.045 hitting percentage. A 5-0 burst early in the set put them out in front, and a pair of blocks from Schoenherr and Willem Van Huizen put their team up by eight as the frame neared its later stages.
 
Yet another block, the Spartans' fifth of the set, ended play at 25-16, with the Golden Bears needing to muster up a response.
 
The Edmonton side certainly put forth a good account of themselves in the second, firing across 12 kills in what proved to be their strongest offensive performance of the match. But the Spartans kept pace with them throughout, and had the response needed when a block from Harris and Matt Shand put Alberta up 15-12.
 
What followed was six straight points for Trinity Western, but Alberta fought back late with a big push of their own. A kill over the middle from Harris capped a 5-1 burst and tied the score at 23 points apiece, but Van Huizen and Schmidt proceeded to land two more kills to go up 2-0 in set count.
 
The final set proved to be fairly similar to the first, with the Spartans jumping out in front early and never looking back. The middle blocker duo of Corneil and Schoenherr starred in the third, with a number of blocks and kills to power their team forward.
 
Schmidt once again ended the set with a big kill, as the Spartans punched their ticket to both the Canada West Final and 2026 U SPORTS Men's Volleyball Championship.
 
NOTABLE

• The Spartans finished the night hitting an impressive .412 (39-11-68 ) while the Golden Bears finished at .101 (26-19-69).
• TWU had the edge in blocks 12-5, digs 18-14, and service aces 4-3
• The Spartans are now 2-1 against Alberta this season, after splitting the regular season matches. In the final matches of the fall semester, the Spartans lost 3-1 and won 3-2 in their road meeting with the Alberta Golden Bears in Edmonton, Alta.
• Since entering Canada West in 1999-2000, the Spartans have played the Golden Bears over 100 times and are now 39-70 lifetime against the Bears, with TWU having won three of their last four conference matches against Alberta.
• The Spartans and the Bisons last met on January 10-11, 2025, with Manitoba winning both matches 3-0 on the road in Winnipeg, Man. TWU is currently 31-23 lifetime against Manitoba. Prior to those two losses, the Spartans had won 12 straight conference matches against the Bisons.
• In the final U SPORTS Top 10 rankings on February 17, UBC was No.1, TWU was No. 2, Alberta was No. 5, and Manitoba was No. 8 in the nation.
• The final Canada West standings had UBC No. 1 (19-1), TWU No. 2 (17-3), Alberta No. 3 (15-5), and Manitoba No. 5 (14-6).
• Canada West has three berths at next week's U SPORTS championship in Windsor, Ont., the Spartans and Bisons have qualified with their semi-final wins. The winner of the bronze medal match between UBC and Alberta will also be heading to Windsor for the national championship.

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.  
 
About Canada West:
As the leading university athletic conference in the country, Canada West is home to student-athletes that excel in the classroom and their communities. The conference is comprised of 17 member institutions spanning from Victoria to Winnipeg, with over 3,200 student-athletes competing across 14 sports. Canada West's mission is to train leaders and build champions by providing leadership in the delivery, regulation, and promotion of university level high performance sports programs throughout western Canada.
  
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