The Trinity Western Spartans are one win away from qualifying for the national championships.
The women’s volleyball team advanced to the Canada West final four after sweeping the Regina Rams by identical 3-0 scores on Thursday and Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
The victory was also payback for the Spartans as the Rams knocked Trinity Western out of the playoffs last year.
“We were running our systems,” said Trinity Western coach Ryan Hofer. “We needed to pass the ball well and make sure that the right people got the ball.
“Lauren (O’Reilly) did a great job of distributing the ball and making certain players touch the ball and then making Regina play the ball.”
O’Reilly led the team with 20 assists and 16 digs.
The Spartans won the first set 25-16 and then took the next two sets by identical 25-21 scores.
The offence hit at just 15.1 per cent —below the team’s normal average of 21.5 per cent — with Amy Leschied (12 kills) and Kara Jansen Van Doorn (10 kills) leading the way.
“Amy (Leschied) was solid for us; she had lots of volume and did really well with the sets she got,” Hofer said.
“Andrea (Ball) was fantastic; she was fighting through a little bit of pain and it was a huge character builder for her to show both the team and herself what she can do.”
Ball had 16 digs.
In Thursday’s match, the Spartans were dominant from start to finish.
Trinity Western was up 9-0 in the first set and never looked back.
They won 25-15, 25-16 and 25-22.
Anytime the Rams tried to mount an attack, the Spartans were there to snuff it out.
Nicole Bazin led the way with six blocks, while Jansen Van Doorn had five. She also added 13 kills, while Leschied and Chelsea Wand had nine apiece.
O’Reilly finished with 31 set assists and 10 digs.
The Spartans are at UBC this weekend for the Canada West final four championships. They are matched against Alberta in the semifinal.
The other semifinal pits No. 1 UBC against No. 5 Manitoba.
The top three teams advance to Laval for the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national championships.
