The Trinity Western Spartans continue to roll as they won twice more over the weekend to improve to 10-0.
The women’s volleyball team won 3-1 (25-19,25-17,23-25,25-18) and 3-0 (25-17,25-14 and 25-11) over the Grant MacEwen Griffins at Edmonton’s City Centre Campus Gymnasium.
The Spartans are ranked second in the country.
“We were very good tonight, we had a really nice team effort and I am very pleased with our performance,” commented TWU head coach Ryan Hofer.
“Very impressed with the offence that Nikki (Cornwall) ran tonight. She distributed the ball well and ran a balanced offence which allowed everyone to hit at different gaps and everyone just executed, which put a lot of pressure on MacEwan.”
With Cornwall directing the offence, the Spartans had a hitting percentage of .321 compared to the Griffins, who hit minus .022.
The Spartans also used a balanced attack as Rowyn Neufled and Katelyn Devaney each had nine kills and Neufeld and Elizabeth Wendel both had 10 digs.
TWU was also aided by eight aces.
In Friday’s victory, Wendel had 23 kills.
The Spartans close the first part of their schedule by hosting Mount Royal on Friday and Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
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The Spartans men’s team was also playing in Edmonton against the Griffins, improving to 7-3 after winning both matches by 3-1 scores.
They won 25-19, 23-25, 25-20 and 25-17 on Friday and 25-22, 30-28, 23-25 and 25-23 on Saturday to push their winning streak to a season-high four matches.
The Spartans are ranked ninth in the country.
“The lesson of the day is that if you are going to win two on the road one of the wins is going to be a little ugly. In this league every team is smart, every team is good and every team is talented enough to put you under a lot of pressure when they know what you are doing,” commented TWU head coach Ben Josephson.
“Their staff did a great job of preparing for our strengths, but I thought our guys just toughed it out and found great resiliency under the pressure and kept coming back to build our own runs and steal enough point to find a way to win on the road.”
Ryan Sclater led the Spartans with 18 kills, 11 digs, two aces an assist and one block for 20.5 points.
Blake Scheerhoorn had 15 points, which included 13 kills, two aces and six digs.
In Friday’s victory, Sclater led the attack with 15 kills while Scheerhoonr and Ben Lieuwen each had a dozen kills. The Spartans hit .437 as a team.
TWU closes the regular season with a pair of home matches on Friday and Saturday at the Lanlgey Events Centre against the Mount Royal Cougars.
