LANGLEY, B.C. – The No. 1-ranked Trinity Western Spartans women’s volleyball team defeated the visiting MacEwan Griffins 3-0 (25-19, 25-14, 25-20) Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
 
Hilary Howe (Calgary) was once again a key contributor for the Spartans, as she earned a match-high 13 kills, along with seven digs while hitting .417.
 
The Griffins were led by Haley Gilfillan and Hailey Cornelis, who had five kills apiece. Rachel Jorvina added seven digs in the loss.
 
With the win TWU improved to 5-0 on the season, while the loss drops MacEwan to 2-3.
 
Serving aces favoured the Spartans 12-8, with both Olivia Heinen (Abbotsford, B.C.) and Avery Heppell (Langley) earning four aces each.
 
The Spartans also hit .311 compared to the Griffins .053 throughout the game.
 
MacEwan made it close through the first set, limiting TWU to a .250 hitting percentage, but TWU’s Howe paced the Spartans with five kills while Mikaelyn Sych (Airdrie, Alta.) added three kills for the home side. 
 
TWU carried momentum from the first set into the second, as they limited MacEwan to a -.045 hitting percentage in the second set compared to .333 percentage of its own. Duplicating the first set from the baseline, the Spartans had another five aces in the second set.
 
Howe continued to dominate in the third set, contributing six kills for Spartans 25 on route to a 25-20 set win and 3-0 victory. The Spartans block also game alive, with TWU earning four of their seven blocks in the final set. The set was also TWU’s most efficient of the night, hitting .357 to the Griffins -.036.
 
QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach
“It was a serving war out there between two teams going after it. We were able to keep them off the net pretty well and really limit their middle attack, which is one of their strengths. We know their middles are going to get a lot of volume and be really effective for them, so we knew we had to push our serve in order to get an advantage.
 
“Offensively, we hit at a high efficiency and hit a lot of good shots. We try to keep a pretty balanced offence and I think we did that well, with four players in double-digits for attacks. And Hilary had another big night, hitting over .400 and once again leading out team offensively.”
 
NOTABLE

• TWU was coming off a pair of three-set victories over Winnipeg last Friday and Saturday (Oct. 25-26).
• The Spartans now hold a 9-2 all-time record against the Griffins, with its only two losses coming last season on the road (Feb. 8-9, 2019).
• MacEwan came to town with a 2-2 record, after earning their first two wins of the season, both 3-0 decisions over Regina (Oct. 25-26).
• In last year’s meeting, the Griffins took both games of the two-match series in Edmonton.

 
NEXT UP
The Spartans will look for the weekend sweep against MacEwan Saturday, taking on the Griffins at 5 p.m. (PT) 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]