KAMLOOPS, British Columbia – The Trinity Western men's volleyball team improved to 2-0 in the McDonald's International Tournament with a 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 25-19, 25-18) win over UBC Okanagan Saturday at the Tournament Capital Centre.
The Spartans hit .591 in the opening stanza to set the tone for a strong outing that saw the TWU starting unit earn the four-set win.
The victory gives TWU its second win of the day after beating Japan's Budo International 3-1 Saturday morning.
Nick Del Bianco (Surrey, B.C.) led the way for TWU as he collected 17 kills while hitting .556. Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, B.C.), who led TWU with 11 kills earlier in the day, had 13 kills. Daniel Grant (Chetwynd, B.C.) had a team-high eight blocks to give him 18 on the day.
Lars Bornemann had a match-high 20 kills to lead UBCO.
After collecting 26 blocks against Budo, the Spartans continued to impress on the block in Saturday evening's tilt as they out-blocked UBCO 15-5.
"It was kind of a game of chasing your tail a little bit," said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. "In the first set we were really efficient attacking but our serving wasn't great. The second set our serving was a little better but our attacking fell apart. The third set, our attacking got a little better but then our passing broke down. We adjusted well but we never had everything clicking at the same time.
"Patience was the focus of the match and I thought the guys showed great patience to get a little bit better every set. I think as we continue to play we'll clean up a few things as we get ready to get back into Canada West league play."
Following an impressive first set for TWU, the Heat bounced back in the second set and evened the match after hitting .303 as team compared to the Spartans, who hit .053.
In the third set, the Spartans took over at 18-18. With a kill from Sclater sparking the Spartans, TWU finished the set on a 7-1 run.
In the fourth set, Del Bianco scored the first point of the set and never trailed en route to a decisive winning set.
The Spartans will play host Thompson Rivers Sunday at 10 a.m. in their final round robin game. The bronze and gold medal games will be played Sunday afternoon.
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