LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 2 Trinity Western women's volleyball team saw its perfect regular season record end at the hands of No. 1 Alberta, as the Pandas rallied from a two-set deficit to beat the Spartans 3-2 (22-25, 22-25, 25-20, 25-23, 15-13) Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
With TWU up by two sets and winning the third set 17-15, a Spartans rotation error turned the set and, ultimately, the match in the Pandas favour. A few points after the error, the referees called TWU for serving out of rotation and a two-point Spartans lead was reversed to become a 16-14 Alberta advantage.
The Pandas took advantage of the momentum swing and won the set and, from there, kept coming. Alberta took early leads in both the fourth and fifth sets before holding on for wins in both sets.
In the fifth set, the Pandas opened a 13-9 lead, only to see TWU rally to knot the set 13-13. However, Alberta tallied the next two points to complete the comeback.
"I'm not too sure if we were out of rotation or not, but regardless of that, there was definitely a momentum shift after that," said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer. "We had a lot of things going in our favour and things changed in that moment, but we have to have to be mentally tough in order to deal with stuff that doesn't go our way."
The loss drops TWU to 13-1 and also snapped the Spartans 25-match winning streak in CIS action. The Spartans hadn't lost since a 3-2 setback against UBC on Jan. 23, 2015.
TWU was led by Sophie Carpentier (Ottawa), who had 19 kills while Elly Wendel (Caronport, Sask.) had 14 kills and Rowyn Neufeld (Richmond, B.C.) added 10 kills. Wendel also had a match-high 22 digs while libero Mariel Garcia (Winnipeg) and setter Nikki Cornwall (Coquitlam, B.C.) each had 21 digs. Cornwall also had a match-high 42 assists as TWU hit .118 as a team.
Alberta's Meg Casault had a match-high 23 kills while Kacey Otto had 18. Setter Mariah Walsh had 39 assist to lead an offense that hit .142.
Both teams had 11 blocks each while Alberta had an 11-10 edge in aces.
"This team fights," Hofer said. "We're not going to give up and we're not going to back down. We played a solid Alberta team and they came to play tonight. When you're playing a team like Alberta, they're going to test you and expose things that you need to work on and we're going to be better for it."
The Spartans came out strong in the first set and built a 9-4 lead after one of Wendel's six kills in the set. However, after TWU took its advantage to 15-10, the Pandas went on an 8-2 run that put them up 18-17. But with Alberta up 22-21, the Spartans responded with four straight points to win the set 25-22.
Much like the first set, the Spartans took an early lead, 13-9, only to see Alberta rally to take a 16-15 advantage. But with the set tied 22-22, TWU once again pulled away. After a pair of Pandas attacking errors, Carpentier finished the set with her eighth kill of the night.
The third set was tight early on, but TWU looked in control. But, while up 17-15, the set and the match changed. With the score reversal, the Pandas seized momentum and built a 21-15 lead before rolling to a five-point win.
The Pandas built on its third-set win early in the fourth, opening a 6-1 lead and forcing TWU into taking a timeout. Alberta pushed its lead to 14-8 before the Spartans climbed all the way back to take a 16-15 lead. However, with the game tied 23-23, the Pandas scored the final two points to send the match to a fifth set.
In the fifth set, Alberta ran out to a 9-4 lead and looked in control. But the Spartans pushed back, eventually tying the set 13-13. After a Pandas timeout, a Casault kill put Alberta on match-point before a Pandas block ended the night.
The Spartans are back on the court Jan. 15-16 when they travel to play Calgary. Alberta is on the road next weekend in Kelowna, B.C. to take on UBC Okanagan.
Game Notes: The last time TWU lost on home court was Oct. 31, 2014, when the Spartans fell 3-2 against Manitoba…The loss to the Bisons was the fourth of a four-game losing streak, which also included back-to-back losses against Alberta.
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