LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 3 Trinity Western men's volleyball team rallied from two sets down to win 3-2 (23-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-18, 15-12) over No. 8 Saskatchewan Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
After the Huskies won the first two sets, the Spartans roared back with a convincing third set win to turn the tides. With momentum on TWU's side, the home team pulled out wins in the fourth and fifth sets to complete the comeback and win its 11th straight match and improve to 18-4 on the season. The loss drops Saskatchewan to 12-10.
The Spartans, who honoured their graduating seniors in a pre-game ceremony, now have sole possession of second place while Saskatchewan falls into a tie for fifth with Manitoba.
TWU, who is one win behind first place Alberta, wraps up the regular season on the road against Winnipeg Feb. 6-7. Saskatchewan will host Thompson Rivers.
The Spartans were led by the three-pronged attack of Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, B.C.), who had 18 kills, three aces and 10 digs, Nick Del Bianco (Surrey, B.C.), who had 14 kills and eight digs, and Blake Scheerhoorn (Belleville, Ont.), who had 11 kills and five blocks. Branden Schmidt (De Winton, Alta.) had a match-high six blocks. Adam Schriemer (Winnipeg) had 43 assists while Devyn Plett (Winnipeg) added 12 assists. Tyler Koslowsky (Abbotsford, B.C.) had a match-high 11 digs.
The Huskies Jordan Nowakowski had a team-high 15 kills while Paul Thomson added 11 kills and three blocks. Tyler Epp had nine kills and hit .615 while collecting five blocks.
"It was a greasy win," said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. "It was never smooth but that's a credit to Saskatchewan. They made it hard on us and kept the pressure on us serving wise. Our reception never did find a rhythm. They're big, physical guys and they made it hard to score. I thought our guys found a way to win on a bad night. We just made enough plays and grinded it out. The fact that we started poorly and figured it out, is a great lesson to have against a playoff opponent. We just needed to find some confidence and take a deep breath."
Despite TWU picking up 15 kills to Saskatchewan's 10 in the first set, the visitors took the opening stanza for the second night in a row. Hitting .200 as a team, the Huskies, who were led by Thomson and his four kills, scored the final two points of the set to earn the win.
The Huskies took over a close second set at the midway point thanks to a 6-0 run that turned a 13-12 deficit into an 18-13 lead. Saskatchewan never allowed the Spartans to get closer than three points and a block from Troy Wiebe and Epp gave the Huskies the winning point. While TWU hit .314 as a team to Saskatchewan's .167, the Huskies had three aces without a serving error while TWU had five serving errors without an ace.
The Spartans took an early 7-2 lead in the third set and held an advantage the rest of the way. TWU went up 16-6 and looked in control only to see Saskatchewan get back within four points at 18-14. But the Spartans responded and a Sclater ace gave TWU its first set of the night.
In the fourth set, TWU had its most efficient set of the night, hitting .441 with 18 kills and just three errors. The teams traded points until the technical timeout but after that, TWU took over. Up 19-17, the Spartans finished the set on a 6-1 run, capped by a Del Bianco kill, to win 25-18.
In the fifth set, the teams went back and forth until 12-12. But a Del Bianco kill gave the Spartans momentum for good. A block from Danny Grant (Chetwynd, B.C.) and Scheerhoorn put TWU on match point and then it was Grant and Scheerhoorn again getting the winning block at 15-12.
Game Notes: The Spartans honoured graduating seniors Del Bianco, Grant, Schmidt and assistant coach Micah Jansen Van Doorn…TWU out-blocked Saskatchewan 12.5 to 9…both teams had six aces…TWU had 12 serving errors to the Huskies five…the Spartans have won 27 straight matches, including the regular season and playoffs, against Saskatchewan…TWU hasn't lost a match since Nov. 21 when it fell 3-0 against Brandon.
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