LANGLEY, British Columbia -- The No. 3 Trinity Western Spartans advanced to the Canada West Final Four for the sixth straight year after claiming a 3-0 win (26-24, 25-20, 25-14) over the No. 10 Thompson Rivers WolfPack in Game 2 to sweep their Canada West Quarter-Final best-of-three series Friday night at the Langley Events Centre.
TWU and TRU fought hard in the first set, each taking their turn in the lead, but it was TWU that proved resilient, taking the set 26-24 after a last minute push. While the second set was also a battle, the Spartans remained in control and moved into the third set with momentum on their side and, in the third set, took down the WolfPack with a double-digit lead intact.
Thanks to 13 aces and 13.5 blocks, the Spartans were able to earn the win with just 26 kills.
The Spartans will travel to the University of Alberta for the Canada West Final Four next weekend. Their opponent has yet to be determined. The top two teams at the Final Four advance to the CIS national championship tournament.
Nick Del Bianco (Surrey, B.C.) led the game with 10 kills, six digs, six blocks and one ace. Blake Scheerhoorn (Belleville, Ont.) had six kills, three digs, two blocks and an ace. Setter Adam Schriemer (Winnipeg) had 15 assists.
Casey Knight led the WolfPack with nine kills, while also adding five digs and a block. Graham Stoliker led the game in assists, with 19 and digs, with six. Brad Gunter was limited to just four kills.
TWU hit .211 per cent while TRU hit .000 per cent.
"When we blew an 18-14 lead in the first set, I was very concerned for the night I thought we were creating," said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. "But then, down 24-22, the plays the guys made to steal that set created the night that happened.
"Then after the second set, we had figured out what they were up to and then our serving just kept going. But they scrambled like crazy and had a billion digs and that's why this was the quarter-final opponent that we were most scared of. Brad is the best attacker in the country and they're one of the best defensive scramble team we've ever competed against. Thank goodness tonight we were able to terminate enough blocks that we didn't have to scramble as long."
The WolfPack started out the scoring in the first set, leading 4-0 before the Spartans were able to get in on the action. The two teams met at 9-9 after an ace from Scheerhoorn, and the Spartans were able to grab the lead and head into the technical timeout up 16-14. Meeting again at 20-20, the WolfPack put on the pressure, gaining consecutive points off of two Spartans block attempts. However, the Spartans came back in the last moments of the set and managed to take the set 26-24.
The second set was a battle throughout, with both teams struggling to take a convincing lead, and sitting at a set tie consistently. The Spartans were up by a single point at the technical timeout, 16-15. After several attack errors from the WolfPack, the Spartans nabbed their first convincing lead of the set at 21-17. Despite a strong effort put out by the WolfPack to come back, the Spartans won the set after a TRU service error, 25-20.
The Spartans began the third set in front, up 7-1.Without much challenge from the WolfPack, it didn't take long for the Spartans to take a double-digit lead, 14-3. While their lead lessened, the Spartans continued to surge ahead as the set drew to a close. A block by Danny Grant (Chetwynd, B.C.) and Scheerhoorn gave the Spartans another 10-point, landing the Spartans at set point. A final service error by the WolfPack granted the Spartans their win 25-14.
Game Notes: The Spartans are looking to advance to the national tournament for the sixth straight year...TWU is now 2-1 against the WolfPack in quarter-final series having previously lost in 2009 and won in 2011...the last time TWU beat TRU in a quarter-final series, the Spartans went on to win the national championship.
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