LANGLEY, B.C. – The No. 1 Trinity Western women’s volleyball team continued to roll early in the 2019-20 season, improving to 4-0 on the year with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-12) win over Winnipeg Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
After a three-set victory in their home-opener less than 24 hours before, the Spartans were even better Saturday, cruising to their third straight three-set victory. The loss drops Winnipeg to 0-4 on the season.
Hilary Howe (Calgary) was once again a key figure in the Spartans victory, earning a match-high 14 kills to go with nine digs and four blocks, while Savannah Purdy (Victoria) had 10 kills without making a single attacking error and hitting .455. Avery Heppell (Langley) had a match-high eight blocks, while TWU’s Olivia Heinen (Abbotsford, B.C.) had 28 assists and six digs in her first start of the season.
The Wesmen were led by Emma Parker, who had 12 kills. Madison Fyvie had a match-leading 14 digs.
The Spartans earned 14 blocks while keeping the Wesmen to a .129 hitting percentage. TWU was similarly dominant from the baseline, picking up seven aces to the Wesmen’s one.
Howe went to work early in the first set, hitting .571 and swinging for five kills to lead TWU to a seven-point win. Winnipeg’s Kalena Schulz, who finished the night with eight kills, countered with four in the first set.
The second set was more of the same, with TWU holding momentum and running away with the set with TWU’s Purdy now taking the lead offensively with five kills in the frame.
With the match on the line, the Spartans had their most efficient set of the weekend, earning 16 kills while making just one attacking error and hitting .441 as a team. Winnipeg was held to an evening-low .077 hitting percentage in the final set.
QUOTABLE
Ryan Hofer – TWU Head Coach
“We cleaned up a lot of things tonight. I felt the team communicated really well during the play and after each play to really limit any kinds of easy points against. We wanted to make Winnipeg earn their points and they did that, but at the same time, we were able to do well in transition and we put a lot of pressure on them.
“We have been running two setters and both of them are doing a really nice job. Olivia did a good job with our hitting efficiency and our sideout efficiency and our numbers were really good tonight. At the end of the day, we want to improve each and every night out and I feel we did that tonight.”
NOTABLE
• The Spartans have won 30 straight matches against the Wesmen. The last time TWU lost to Winnipeg was Nov. 13, 2004 when the Wesmen completed a weekend sweep of the Spartans.
• The Spartans won last year’s season series against the Wesmen, as TWU took both matches in four sets on the road in Winnipeg (Nov. 9-10).
• Including the preseason, TWU is 8-1 in 2019-20.
UP NEXT
The Spartans are back at home Nov. 1-2 when they host MacEwan, while Winnipeg has a bye next weekend before playing a home-and-home series with Brandon Nov. 7 and 9.
About Spartan Athletics
As official members of U SPORTS, the Spartans currently compete in 11 sports in the Canada West conference, including women’s and men’s soccer, volleyball, basketball, cross country and track & field, as well as women’s rugby sevens. TWU also competes in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) in men’s hockey and as an independent team in men’s rugby. The men’s and women’s hockey programs will begin playing in Canada West and U SPORTS in 2020-21. Since TWU entered U SPORTS in 1999, the Spartans have won 12 U SPORTS team championships and 27 Canada West team championships and two BCIHL championships.
[SOURCE: Trinity Western University]