WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2014
TRINITY WESTERN (3) THOMPSON RIVERS (0)
(25-21, 25-22, 25-20) 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

SPARTANS CLAIM SEASON OPENER

LANGLEY, British Columbia -- The season starts on a high note for the Trinity Western women's volleyball team as they took the opening match of Canada West conference play 3-0 over Thompson Rivers Friday night at the Langley Events Centre. The 25-21, 25-22, and 25-20 puts TWU at 1-0, while TRU is at 0-1. 

"It was a great season opener today," said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer. "TRU has improved their team significantly and it was a great team to compete against, and it was a lot of fun because they weren't afraid to hit the ball and it made for some good rallies."

Thompson Rivers challenged the Spartans in each set, with TRU's Iuliia Pakhomenko (Donetsk, Ukraine) leading the match with 13 kills. 

But the Spartans who were led by Alicia Perrin (Creston, B.C.), with five blocks, eight kills and an ace, Sophie Carpentier (Ottawa) led the team with 10 kills and liberoKristen Moncks (Standard, Alta.) had a match high of 11 digs, would prove to be the better team in the end. 

"We had good performances from Alicia Perrin," Hofer said. "Sophie Carpentier had some good attacking numbers and it was good to see Moncks (Kristen kind of fight through, she wasn't feeling very well this week and she came through and played well for us." 

Trinity Western made a total of 11 team blocks, while TRU only managed to make three. 

In the first set the Spartans struggled to gain a leg up over Thompson Rivers with rallies ending in Thompson Rivers favor and leading the score up until the last half of the set. A rally at 9-15 between the two teams seemed like it would change the tide, however TRU was able to hang onto the lead until the score was even at 17-17. From there the Spartans gained momentum however and took the lead, they didn't let up and won the set 25-21. 

The second set began with a clear Spartans presence and lead as Alicia Perrin provided two early points with a block and a kill. Mid-set, Perrin continued to contribute to the Spartan lead by making a kill at 17-14 that was immediately followed by a service ace at 18-14. TRU gave it their all in trying to come back and overtake Trinity Western, answering Perrin's earlier ace with one of its own, made by Iuliia Pakhomenko at 18-16. However the Spartans successfully held on to the lead and claimed the set 25-22. 

The final set of the game looked like it would be quickly claimed by the Spartans. However TRU proved resilient and wasn't about to go down easy as they managed to keep the pressure on the Spartans by tying the score up both 14-14 and 18-18. The Spartans answered with some intensity of their own, blocking two consecutive hits followed by a service ace by Rachel Flink (Surrey, B.C.). A kill by Perrin at 19-18 followed by a service ace by Casie Gano (Sundre, Alta.) at 20-18 would get the Spartans the advantage they needed at they closed out the match 25-20.

"It was a great game, loved to see the crowd out there, we had a great crowd for a season opener and we're looking forward to playing that team again tomorrow night," said Hofer. 

The Spartans and WolfPack meet in a rematch Saturday at 5 p.m. at the Langley Event Centre. The match will be streamed live on Canadawest.tv. 

Match Notes: TWU finished the night hitting at 23.5 percent (29-10-81), while TRU finished at 11 percent (36-25-100)…Kara Twomey (Winnipeg) finished the night with 33 set assists for the WolfPack, while Nikki Cornwall (Coquitlam, B.C.) finished with 25 for the Spartans… 

-TW-