By Mark Janzen, Trinity Western University
LANGLEY, B.C. – No. 1-ranked Trinity Western picked up its 12th win in a row, rolling to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 29-27) win over Regina Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
In a match featuring the first-place Spartans against the last-place Cougars, the Spartans (16-1) earned wins in the first two sets in convincing fashion before holding off a hard-charging Regina side (1-16) in the third set.
With TWU getting its first shot at match point at 24-21, the Cougars rallied and pushed the game beyond 25 points, before eventually succumbing to the Spartans pressure. An ace from TWU middle Pearson Eshenko (Banff, Alta.) sealed the win for the Spartans.
Eric Loeppkey (Steinbach, Man.) finished with a match-high 12 kills and four aces. Jesse Elser (Calgary) had 11 kills, while hitting a match-high .429.
Setter Adam Schriemer (Winnipeg) had 21 assists, while Maddux Greves (Calgary) came off the bench to earn 16 assists.
Brennan Goski led Regina with 10 kills.
TWU finished with a .329 hitting percentage compared to Regina, who hit .123.
The Spartans and Cougars were tied 14-14 in the first set, but a 4-0 TWU run swung the game the way of the home side. With Elser collecting four kills and the Spartans hitting .350 and out-blocking Regina 4-1, TWU rolled to a six-point win.
The second set was more of the same from TWU, as they hit .391 while holding Regina to -.042. Elser had another five kills for TWU, while Regina was held to just seven kills as a team.
The Cougars took a 9-6 lead in the third set, but the Spartans quickly replied, taking a 15-13 lead and forcing Regina to take a timeout. TWU had its first opportunity at match point at 24-21, but the Cougars roared back to tie the set 24-24. After going back-and-forth and after TWU had several chances to win, the Spartans finally finished it off with Eshenko's ace.
QUOTABLE
Head Coach Ben Josephson
"This is the best Regina team I have evaluated on tape. (Goski) is a handful and (Matthew Aubrey) is a beast and their two middles are two of the biggest middles in the conference when you pair them up. Their freshman setter is also doing a good job. They're a better team than their record. Because of that, I was really nervous about how they were going to come out. For the most part, we played the team and not the record and I think that's why we handled the first two sets well. They were right there through the middle sections of the first two sets and then a couple of our servers and blockers cracked it open.
"In the third set, I felt we completely lost our way. They hit .333 and that has everything to do with bad blocking, bad serving, bad defence and better play on Regina's part. There was a lull in that third set that I want to talk about. With that said I didn't think Maddux or Mark (Antoniuk, Langley) played great in the first half of that third set, but once the game got intense, they clicked into instinct and then they were phenomenal and that's why we were able to pull it off."
NOTABLE
• Including preseason, TWU has a 29-1 record this year. The Spartans only setback was a five-set loss against Brandon Nov. 10.
• TWU is 36-1 all-time against Regina. The Spartans only loss was a five-setter Nov. 23, 2002.
• The Spartans also had an 11-7 edge in blocking.
• The Spartans had an 11-4 edge in aces.
NEXT UP
TWU and Regina are back on the court for the rematch Saturday at 7 p.m. (PT).
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