Playing in a hostile environment can be a difficult task for some teams but don’t count the Trinity Western Spartans among those bothered by going into enemy territory.
For the third consecutive championship tournament — the 2016 U Sports national championships, the 2017 Canada West championships and most recently, this past weekend at the 2017 U Sports national championships — the TWU men’s volleyball team faced the home team on their opponent’s home floor with a championship banner at stake.
And for the third straight time, it was the Spartans bringing home the hardware.
“As soon as you go into an environment like that where everyone is seemingly against you, I think that really forces you to rely on each other for energy and for emotion, and it forces you to communicate better and I think when we start relying on each other and communicating better, I think that is when our team is absolutely at our best,” said Spartans head coach Ben Josephson, on Monday afternoon, a few hours after his team arrived back from Edmonton.
“(And) whenever there is that sort of energy in the gym, it raises everybody’s level and I know our kids love playing in big matches with lots of people watching.”
The Spartans defeated the host Alberta Golden Bears 3-1 (25-20,25-20,27-29,25-23) at the Saville Community Sports Centre to win their second consecutive Tantramar Trophy. It was also the program’s fifth national championship, the fourth with Josephson as head coach.
MVB | Congratulations to the @TWUSpartans !!!@USPORTSca Champions!! #CHAMPSZN pic.twitter.com/cQnnGKQKUM
— U SPORTS Volleyball (@USPORTS_VBall) March 20, 2017
The coach knew his team would be in the mix for another title, mentioning Manitoba, McMaster and Alberta as also being in the conversation as title favourites.
“This is year two of a three-year window,” he explained. “Last year, we had to scrape together a couple of weeks to make a push.
“We knew this year we were going to be one of the four teams in the running.”
The Spartans defeated Manitoba — on the Bisons home court — in the Canada West finals earlier this month, and then beat McMaster in the national championship semifinals on Saturday. TWU had defeated the Marauders in the 2016 national championship game on McMaster’s home floor.
And then on Sunday, they knocked off the Golden Bears.
“We just love to play in any atmosphere where people are into it and excited,” explained Ryan Sclater, one of just two fifth-year seniors set to graduate and leave the team.
“We love that at home, but even on the road, when people are fired up, we are going to have a good time.
“Just that idea when you are out there on the court and all you have is each other, it just forces you to be really, really unified as a team.”
Sclater finished the game with a dozen kills, adding eight digs and five block assists.
Aaron Boettcher came up with the decisive block on match point and earned player of the match honours. He finished with 7.5 blocks for the game.
Blake Scheerhoorn led TWU with 22 kills on 43 attempts, committing just three attacking errors while Adam Schriemer led the Spartan offence with 48 assists and picked up the most valuable player honours for the championships.
Sclater, Schriemer and Scheerhoorn were all named tournament all-stars as well.
Josephson said he knew this year’s squad was talented but didn’t know whether they had the necessary grit to deliver another title.
“I knew this (team) was talented but talent doesn’t always win; I didn’t know how tough this group was, how much resolve they had,” he said.
“Oftentimes after you win a championship, you lose your edge so I was curious how this group was going to respond down the stretch because we didn’t get pushed too hard during the regular season.
“And the way they played at the Canada West Final Four championships, with those two five-set comebacks, that kind of set the stage and answered my question that this group really had a lot of grit.
“When you match that grit with that talent level I felt really confident heading into the tournament.”
