LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western Spartans rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the UBC Thunderbirds in five sets at the West Coast Classic Sunday afternoon at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.

TWU lost the opening set 25-17, rallied to tie the match with a 25-19 win in the second set, before falling behind again after a 25-23 third set loss. In the final two sets the Spartans found another level as they dominated the Thunderbirds 25-9 in the fourth set to even up the match. TWU carried the strong play in to the fifth set as they took the match with a 15-10 in the final set.

QUOTABLE
TWU Head Coach Ryan Hofer
“It’s really neat to see a young group go out there and learn with each other. I think today and this weekend is a lot of learning and a lot of growing for our players. It’s a great opportunity for our younger players to go out there and get some good playing time and to deal with the pressures that the game is going to be bring us.”

“The first couple sets we didn’t play particularly well. We were just giving away too many points and if we wanted to push the match to a fifth set we need to raise our level of game. Our girls raised their level of focus and their level of calm and they found a way to push it to a fifth set and then get it done.”

NOTABLE
• Since 2010 the Spartans are 10-13 against the Thunderbirds in Canada West league play.
• The Spartans last played the Thunderbirds in the opening match of last season’s U Sports national championship, which UBC won 3-2 over TWU.

UP NEXT
The Spartans begin Canada West conference play in two weeks when they head to Edmonton to take on the University of Alberta. Match times against the Pandas on October 18 and 19 are set for 7:30 and 5:00 p.m. MST. Both matches can be seen live on CanadaWest.TV.

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]