WINNIPEG – The No. 2-ranked Trinity Western women’s volleyball team earned its seventh straight win to start the season, picking up a 3-0 (25-15, 25-21, 25-17) victory over Manitoba at the Investors Group Athletic Centre Friday evening
Fourth-year star outside Hilary Howe (Calgary) led the way for Trinity Western with a match-high 13 kills on a season-high .462 hitting percentage.
Right side Laura Hill was one of the lone bright spots for Manitoba, leading her team with six kills and adding three digs. Kearley Abbott finished with five kills and seven digs for the Bisons.
The three-set loss dropped the Bisons record to 2-5.
The Spartans held a steady lead in the first set behind outside Savannah Purdy’s (Victoria) three kills and poor Bisons hitting. The visitors took the set 25-15.
Manitoba got off to a hot start in the second set, holding am 18-15 lead before a momentum-changing 10-3 Spartans run to close the set.
Trinity Western didn’t slow down in the third, sealing the match with a 25-17 third-set victory.
The Spartans hit a superb .329 as a team, while the Bisons only hit .120.
QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach
“I think we had a few jitters having not played for a couple of weeks. But I’m just really happy with the focus and mindset that we had going into this match. The numbers showed that we had a really high kill efficiency. We wanted to put a lot of pressure on Manitoba with our serve and then just really try to keep ourselves in positions to score with a balanced offence. They have some good attackers over there and so we had to have a couple solutions for some different things they were doing. I thought our two middles did a really nice job of attacking and then putting pressure on with our block. And Hilary was again outstanding, hitting over .400.”
Hilary Howe – 4th-Year Outside
“We have a really deep team. A lot of girls are coming on and off out the court, plus our compete in practice is huge for getting ready for any game.”
NOTABLE
• Howe has now hit .407 or better in four of her last five games/
• She is averaging 4.59 kills per set this year, which has her second in Canada West.
• The win is TWU’s sixth straight three-set victory.
• The Spartans have only dropped one set this season, suffering their lone setback in a 3-1 season-opening win over Alberta.
UP NEXT
The Bisons and Spartans will meet again Saturday at 6:45 p.m. (CT) back at the IGAC for the final match of their weekend series.
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]