David Larkins, Wesmen Athletics

WINNIPEG — The Winnipeg Wesmen played far from perfect.

The Trinity Western Spartans stayed perfect.

Savannah Purdy had 18 kills to lead three Spartans in double digits and TWU remained undefeated in Canada West women's volleyball Friday, with a 3-1 (25-18, 23-25, 25-18, 25-11) win over the Wesmen at the Duckworth Centre.

The Spartans improved to 3-0 while the Wesmen had their modest two-match win streak snapped in dropping to 2-3 on the season.

Ashleigh Laube and Emma Parker once again had double-doubles in leading the Wesmen attack. Both had 13 kills, with Laube notching 15 digs and Parker 10. Still, the Wesmen were only able to muster a .088 attack percentage, the first time the season-opener at Regina that Winnipeg has hit below .100.

"We did our homework and practised great the last two days (but) we played tight and didn't follow our game plan," Wesmen head coach Diane Scott said. "The second set, for sure, we battled and won that tight set, but as soon as one wheel falls off the bus, we went back to what we were a couple weeks ago."

Ashtyn McKenzie added 13 kills and Hilary Howe 11 for the No. 3-ranked Spartans, who got 15 digs from Emma Gamache and Olivia Heinen. Trinity hit .320 for the match, the first time this season the Spartans have hit over .300 for a match.

"We knew we had to keep chipping away. Winnipeg was playing very well, they were playing an error-free game, which really forced us to have to earn our points," TWU head coach Ryan Hofer said. "They didn't start giving us points until the very end there, so we had to earn every one of them. We had to keep up with our serving game and fight to find ways to score the ball."

The two teams will face each other again Saturday with a 6:45 p.m. CT first serve.

Photo: David Larkins/Wesmen Athletics