LANGLEY, British Columbia -- The No. 3 Trinity Western Spartans earned their second three-setter of the weekend against the MacEwan Griffins (25-16, 25-16, 25-18) Saturday night at the Langley Events Centre. The win improves TWU to 14-4, while the loss keeps MacEwan winless at 0-18.

Through all three sets, the two teams rallied early on before the Spartans managed to take control and claim each set. The first two sets ending at 25-16, while the Griffins managed to hang on for two more points before the game ended at 25-18 in the third. 

"I'm happy that we won; happy that we adjusted well, our opponents also adjusted from last night and made us play more rallies," Spartan coach Ben Josephson said. "They didn't let us get quick aces or quick stuff blocks, so we had to extend our possessions, which is awesome because that's stuff that we need to work on. Our focus has been on our block defense and that was solid, but our transition offense wasn't great, so the things that we're supposed to be good at, we're really good at, the next phase of the season, our offense has got to clean up in a lot of ways." 

Spartan Nick Del Bianco (Langley, B.C.) led the game with 16 kills, six digs and an ace. Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) had nine kills, two digs and two blocks. Libero Tyler Koslowsky (Abbotsford, B.C.) had a game high of 12 digs, while Spartan setter Adam Schriemer had a game high of 38 assists while also leading with three aces and claiming a kill. 

For the Griffins it was Damon Holmen that led his team with 9 kills and six digs, while teammate Brady Atwood contributed seven kills, two digs and two blocks. 

TWU hit .378 while MacEwan hit .138. Both teams had four blocks. 

"Overall I'm just very happy," Josephson said. "Playing teams that are a little bit different, a little smaller than we're used to seeing, it's sometimes complicated to get through clean. So to not even give up twenty points and we hit pretty efficient. So I'm just happy to move forward and now we go forward into a really tough stretch." 

The first set started out with a fairly even score, with MacEwan tying it up at 12-12. TWU led 16-12 halfway through the set, and continued to increase their lead as it moved to 22-16. With a massive hit from Del Bianco, the Spartans took the set 25-16.

Beginning much like the first, the second set had a lot of back and forth play, with the Spartans and Griffins keeping the score tied up until 8-7, where the Spartans gained a momentary lead before the teams met again at 10-10. The Spartans pulled ahead again at 16-13. The Spartans continued to drive up their score and took the set at 25-16. 

The final set mimicked the previous two, with both teams staying neck-and-neck, tied at 9-9. It was the Spartans that once again broke away, gaining a four-point lead at 13-9. The Spartans moved up to 16-11 at the technical time-out. With the definite lead, the Spartans drove up the score and took the final set 25-18.

The Spartans are back in action Jan. 23 and Jan. 24 as they pay a visit to Vancouver to play the UBC Thunderbirds. TWU is currently tied for second spot in Canada West, while UBC sits tied for sixth spot at 10-8. 

Match Notes: TWU defensive specialist/Libero Carter Bergen had his first attack attempt as a Spartan in the third set of today's match, he ended the match with one kill on two attempts with zero attack errors…today's match took 1:18 to play… 

-TW-