WINNIPEG – The No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans (7-1) dominated play at the Investors Group Athletic Centre on Saturday evening, beating the Manitoba Bisons (3-3) in straight sets (25-16, 25-20, 25-18).
The Spartans established their athleticism and skill early on in the match, building significant leads in the first two sets. A competitive start to the third set also ended up tipping in Trinity Western’s favour, as the Spartans won nine out of the last 12 points late to secure a quick victory.
Second-year Jesse Elser (Calgary) led the visitors with eight kills on 15 attempts (.200), while third-year Jackson Howe (Calgary) had his second straight ultra-efficient performance — recording five kills at a .833 hitting percentage, which came after a 10-kill, .714 match on Friday. The Spartans also won that match in straight sets.
The victory marked TWU coach Ben Josephson‘s 200th career regular season win. Josephson has an all-time regular season record of 200-62 (.763 winning percentage).
For Manitoba, third-year Owen Schwartz led the team with seven kills, while Ben Carleton added five. First-year middle Darian Koskie recorded three service aces.
In the first set, TWU built a lead quickly by scoring seven of the first eight points. Two of those points came on blocks, as Howe and Brodie Hofer (Langley, B.C.) made strong plays at the net. Though Manitoba would trade points with them through the rest of the set, they weren’t able to get a run of their own going — eventually yielding the set, 25-16.
The two teams traded four-point runs early in the second set, as Koskie recorded two aces for the home team. Down 21-14 late, Manitoba climbed back into the set thanks to a block and two excellent setups from setter Dylan Sutherland. A 5-1 run by the Bisons cut the Spartans lead to three (22-19), but two kills from Elser helped secured the set for the Spartans, 25-20.
TWU found a similar run midway through the third to build a 17-10 lead — this one including two kills from Hofer. They went on to finish the match with a 25-18 win.
QUOTABLE
Ben Josephson – TWU Head Coach
“They played a couple different players and upgraded their size, so it made a few things more challenging in respect to our offence. We had a rough serving night, so we had to control the game from a block defence standpoint and I thought our blockers responded to the challenge when we weren’t getting a lot of results from our serve.
“Overall, we got a sweep on the road. But the weekend was highlighted by getting to compete against (Bisons coach) Garth Pischke. He’s retiring at the end of the season as winningest coach in Canadian history. He’s arguably the greatest player in Canadian history and he’s one of the guys I looked up to as both a player and a coach. The fact that I got to share a match with him in his last season on his home court was special. It was a fun moment to shake his hand after and thank him for everything he’s done for me and for my career and for our sport in Canada. I’ll never forget this weekend. It was an honour. And I’ll never forget all the things I’ve learned from him over the weekend.”
NOTABLE
• The Spartans have now won eight straight and 13 of their last 14 matches against the Bisons. TWU’s last loss against Manitoba was Jan. 23, 2016.
• TWU has now won 18 straight sets.
• All seven of the Spartans wins this year have been in three sets. Their only loss was a 3-2 setback against Alberta.
UP NEXT
The Spartans will return home next weekend to face the Saskatchewan Huskies Nov. 22-23 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, cross country and track & field, as well as women’s rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men’s hockey and as an independent team in men’s rugby. The men’s and women’s hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.
[SOURCE: Trinity Western University]