EDMONTON — The Trinity Western Spartans earned their second consecutive win against the Alberta Pandas on Saturday, winning in straight sets (25-19, 25-14, 25-21) at the Saville Community Sports Centre.
With the win, the Spartans improved to 2-0 on the season, while the loss drops the Pandas to 0-2.
Fourth-year outside hitter Hilary Howe (Calgary) led TWU with 14 kills, while second-year outside hitter Ansah Odoom (Surrey, B.C.) chipped in with 10 kills while hitting .714.
Panda’s Fourth-year outside hitter Kory White led Alberta with 12 kills, while third-year outside hitter Julia Zonneveld had nine kills and 10 digs in the loss.
TWU limited Alberta to just one lead in the first set, when the Pandas led 2-1 early. Into the second set the Spartans capitalized on Alberta’s miscues, leading all the way through the entire set.
The Pandas then took a lead for the first half of the third set, but TWU found a way to stay within striking distance throughout. Once they took a 14-13 lead, they didn’t look back.
It was an impressive start to the season for the defending Canada West champion Spartans, as they recorded their sixth straight win over Alberta in conference play.
Trinity Western recorded 15 service aces, with second-year outside hitter Savannah Purdy (Victoria, B.C.) leading the way with five of her own. Alberta made 15 service return errors.
QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach
“It was a really good battle tonight, and definitely a fun one to be a part of. I’m really proud of our team tonight to string together two really strong back to back performances against Alberta. We found our groove from the baseline and put a lot of pressure on Alberta, with 15 aces it took a lot of our team serving really well.
“We were able to upgrade our passing a little bit tonight and get the ball up towards the net so that we could run a little bit more at them. Ansah played incredibly well tonight, doing a great job at managing her volume. Hilary again took a heavy load for us and in attacking well. Emma Gamache (Abbotsford, B.C.) was really strong defensively, taking a large part of the court and managing it really well.
“Really proud of the team all around tonight. The setters did a great job locating the ball and putting our hitters in good situations to put Alberta in trouble.”
NOTABLE
The last time the Pandas were swept in a home opening weekend came in 2001, when they were swept by the University of Calgary Dinos.
TWU was coming off a 3-1 victory against Alberta on Friday (22-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-20).
It was the second consecutive year TWU opened the Canada West regular season with a sweep, after opening 2018-19 with a pair of 3-1 wins against Regina.
UP NEXT
The Spartans return home to host the Winnipeg Wesmen Friday (Oct. 25) and Saturday (Oct. 26) 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]