TWU SPARTANS (CANDA WEST)
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2014
TRINITY WESTERN (3) THOMPSON RIVERS (0)
(25-23,25-22,25-20)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPARTANS GET SWEEP OF WOLFPACK

LANGLEY, British Columbia – It wasn't pretty, but the Trinity Western men's volleyball team found a way to defeat the visiting Thompson Rivers University WolfPack in straight sets Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The win gives TWU the weekend sweep and a 2-0 record to start the season, while TRU starts at 0-2.

 "This early in the season it is going be sloppy and both teams were equally sloppy tonight," commented TWU head coach Ben Josephson. "The first few weeks it is going to be about who can play cleanest the longest. The team that can pass well the will win.  Our team's reception was better which was why we won." 

"We try to build through a match. I think we started to figure out how they were playing us and what they were doing. So we just got better as the set went on. We've done that a lot this year where we build early, pull away in the middle and finish late. The first two sets followed that model well."

Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) with 13 kills, two blocks and two aces led the Spartans attack, while Randy Grundmann with 12 kills led the WolfPack offence.
The Spartans serving proved to be the difference in the match. They finished with eight aces, but the serving also helped set up their blocking where they finished with nine team blocks to the WolfPack's 4.5 blocks.

In the first set the WolfPack looked to be the better team early on, but with the Spartans trailing 16-14 TWU put together a 7-1 run to get a four point 21-17 lead. That was all they needed as they took the opening game 25-23, despite TRU out hitting TWU 20 percent to 16 percent.

The two teams were even to start the second set, then with the set tied at 15-15, setter Scott Plocktis (Kelowna, B.C.) and outside Tyler Heppell (Langley, B.C.) subbed in for TWU. The two sparked TWU to a 10-7 run and the second set win 25-22.

"They gave us a lift, changed some stuff up and the whole match swung in the balance on those 10 points. Now we had a two set lead and momentum and Scott did a good job to finish off the match. Those guys gave us the lift when we needed it," commented Josephson.

Once again the two teams were even to start the final set, with score tied at 12-12. But second half of the set belonged to TWU as they took the set 25-20 to take the match 3-0.

The Spartans will now go on the road to Kelowna, B.C. where they will take on the UBC Okanagan Heat on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18.  Match times for Friday and Saturday night are set for 8 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Match Notes: Making his first Canada West start rookie Ben Lieuwen (Abbotsford, B.C.) finished the night with three kills, five digs, one block and one service ace…"First start as a rookie, we didn't ask him to do a lot. Just pass well, manage high ball and score when he got the chance. He did all those things really well. He was awesome and really mentally tough," said Josephson… Lieuwen made the start ahead of injured fifth year Nick Del Bianco (Surrey, B.C.)…

-TW-