The Trinity Western Spartans were stunned in the quarter-finals at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championships in Quebec City over the weekend.
The Spartans men’s volleyball team was up 2-0, but lost three straight sets to fall 3-2 (26-28,23-25,31-29,27-25,15-9) to the Western Mustangs.
Trinity Western was seeded second for the eight-team tournament while Western was No. 7.
“It was a battle of two balanced teams,” said Spartans coach Ben Josephson.
“A five-setter is what this match deserved. We made a couple more plays in the first two sets, they made a couple more in the next two sets.
“Fifth sets are all about who gets the run first (and) they made it first and then there was not enough time to make up for it.”
Trinity Western was looking to become the first team since the Winnipeg Wesmen won three straight CIS titles in the 1970s.
The Spartans did rebound to edge the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds 3-2 (19-25,25-23,25-20,20-25,15-12) before losing to the Alberta Golden Bears 3-1 (25-14,25-21,22-25,25-18) to finish sixth.
Trinity Western’s Nick Del Bianco was named a CIS first-team all-Canadian.
