The Trinity Western Spartans volleyball teams closed the first semester of the Canada West season with a pair of victories apiece, and top five rankings in the country.
The men’s team beat the Calgary Dinos 3-2 and 3-0 over the weekend and are ranked fourth in Canada with a record of 10-4.
The women also took both of their matches against Calgary, 3-0 and 3-2. They are also 10-4 on the season and ranked fifth.
The women’s team has now won seven consecutive matches following a four-game losing streak.
The games were played at the Langley Events Centre on Nov. 28 and 29.
And in the second of those games for the Spartan women, it looked like their winning streak was in jeopardy as Calgary won the first two sets, 25-17 and 25-23.
“We talked about what kind of tone we wanted to leave the semester with,” said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer on his team’s focus after losing the second set.
“We wanted to leave it on a high. We wanted to leave it all out there and come back to the locker room having done everything you could to help this team be successful.”
But the Spartans rallied with 25-19 and 25-15 wins before edging the Dinos 15-13 in the decisive set.
Micaylee Pucilowski was a big factor in the fifth set as she collected four kills and one block.
“We were looking to bring people’s strengths,” Hofer said “We were looking for an edge and Micaylee is a player who has been performing really well for us and Calgary hadn’t seen her. We thought we’d take a chance and she went off.”
Sophie Carpentier led the Spartans with 21 kills and a pair of aces while Kristen Moncks had 17 digs.
Nikki Cornwall had 53 assists while guiding the Spartan offence to a .263 hitting percentage.
In Friday’s straight-sets victory — 25-21, 25-20 and 25-16 — Carpentier had 10 kills and three aces while Alicia Perrin had six kills and four blocks. Katelyn Devaney had five kills and five blocks.
The Spartans men’s team has won three in a row after taking both matches versus Calgary.
The team won 3-2 (25-10,22-25,22-25,25-19,15-10) on Friday and 3-0 (25-11,25-18,25-21) on Saturday.
Nick Del Bianco played a big role in both victories.
After delivering seven aces the first night, he had four more on Saturday, plus 15 kills, seven digs and four blocks.
“Nick wanted to make he was sharp from start to finish,” said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. “I thought he had a great resolve and his decision making was awesome. He managed the tough spots really well. He was dialed in. I thought he passed really well and he had a couple of amazing solo blocks. That was probably the most complete match he’s played in all phases.”
Ryan Sclater led the team on Friday with 18 kills while Del Bianco had 13 kills and four blocks. Daniel Grant had nine blocks and seven kills and Schriemer had 48 assists. He had another 34 assists the second night.
As a team, the Spartans hit .304 in the five-set victory, compared to just .090 for the Dinos.
Mark Janzen/TWU Athletics
Trinity Western Spartans’ Rachel Flink returns the ball during her team’s victory over the Calgary Dinos on Saturday at the Langley Events Centre. The Spartans closed the first half of the Canada West season with a pair of victories and a 10-4 record.
