EDMONTON – The Trinity Western Spartans captured their first Canada West women's volleyball championship in program history thanks to a thrilling come-from-behind 3-2 (23-25, 17-25, 25-21, 25-23 and 17-15) victory over the host University of Alberta Pandas at the Saville Community Sports Centre on Friday night.
The Spartans, winners of six other Canada West medals, finally found their glory by methodically working their way back from a 2-0 deficit to take the game in five sets, including a tense fifth set which they won 17-15.
"We had to figure out Alberta's systems, and figure out where we could get points and where we could limit them," explained Trinity head coach Ryan Hofer. "That's what happened in those first two sets. We were trying to figure out how to play Alberta, because they were playing so well and they have such a strong serving game, and we needed to see where we could gain the advantage and expose them.
"We had to not get frustrated," Hofer continued about the 2-0 deficit. "We could feel that frustration, because we weren't performing like we knew we could, and Alberta was playing great. We had to stay relaxed and grind one out, get that first win and move on from there."
Leading the way for the Spartans was third-year outside hitter Sophie Carpentier as she finished with a team high 18 kills, while teammate Alicia Perrin cranked 14 kills, a .242 hitting percentage, one ace and five block assists. The fifth-year middle from Creston, B.C. is a four-time Canada West all-star, and she capped off her final conference championship appearance with the tournament MVP honours.
"It's not just her performance," stated Hofer about Perrin, "it's her leadership and what she does to inspire and help these girls stay focused. She's worked hard for five years; she's been in this game before and came away with silver. She wanted this game; she pushed hard and led her teammates tonight."
Alberta, ranked No.1 in CIS coming into the weekend, claims the silver medal as well as the second seed from Canada West at the CIS championship tournament, which runs February 26 to March 1 at the University of Toronto. TWU has the top seed from the conference, while the UBC Thunderbirds will collect the third seed at the national championship event.
The Pandas were led offensively by two-time Canada West all-star Meg Casault, a third-year outside hitter from Edmonton, who banked a match high 22 kills, while Kacey Otto collected 11 kills and a match high six aces on the night. Casault earned player of the game honours for the Pandas.
Alberta looked well on its way to earning its 11th Canada West banner, and first since 2012, as they opened up the match with an impressive 2-0 lead.
Riding the strong service game of Otto, who earned five aces in the first two sets combined, as well as eight kills from Casault, the Pandas were poised to make the gold medal match a quick event after winning 25-23 and 25-17 in the first two sets. They even came back from an 8-3 deficit in the first set to earn the narrow victory.
In the third set, however, the match settled down and found its rhythm as the two teams stayed within four points of each other, but with the Spartans slowly beginning to take over. They strung together a 5-1 lead to start, but were tied with the Pandas at 10-10. Alberta then scored four of the next six points, but the Spartans responded by rolling off three straight to lead 16-14 at the technical break. Carpentier scored a quick pair of points to lead TWU to a 21-17 advantage, and they never looked back as they took the third set 25-21.
The fourth set looked like a rebound set for the Pandas as they opened with leads of 7-2 and 14-7. Trinity, however, refused to give in, scoring a 6-0 run before Alberta would net a pair to go into the technical timeout up 16-14.
After some back and forth play, Trinity jumped ahead 22-21 following two kills by Perrin and an attack error by the Pandas. A service error tied the game at 22-22, but Carpentier secured the win with two kills in the final three points to level the match at 2-2.
In the fifth, the Pandas once again came out strong to start, earning a 5-2 lead, but once again, TWU was able to chip away at the deficit and take over the set at 10-7 thanks to four attack errors by the Pandas. Alberta got kills from Dione Lang and Otto, as well as an ace from Josephine Doerfler, to tie the match at 10-10, but the Spartans then regained the advantage at 14-12.
Back-to-back attack errors by TWU tied the set at 14-14, but kills by Carpentier and Royal Richardson, coupled with another attack error by the Pandas sent the Spartans to the 17-15 set win, and the 3-2 gold medal victory.
"It's overwhelming" said Hofer of the program's first ever title. "You realize how hard it is to win this championship and how much work goes into making this happen. I'm awestruck and totally proud of these girls and how hard they've worked to make this happen. And not just this season, they've been working for this moment since our last game last season."