LANGLEY, B.C. – Trinity Western’s men’s volleyball team put together a dominant performance in its home-opener, beating Winnipeg 3-0 (25-14, 25-19, 25-17) Friday at the Langley Events Centre.
On a night when the Spartans raised their 2018-19 national championship banner, the Spartans (2-1) were efficient in their success, hitting .375 on route to a convincing victory over the Wesmen (1-2).
Second-year Brodie Hofer (Langley) had a match-high nine kills in a game that saw Winnipeg earn just 14 kills. Fifth-year middle Pearson Eshenko (Banff, Alta.) had match-high 10 blocks to tie the Spartans three-set match record, equalling a mark co-held by Dan Jansen Van Doorn (Feb. 3, 2012), Daniel Grant (Feb. 13, 2013) and Rudy Verhoeff (Feb. 3, 2012). Eshenko also added eight kills.
Winnipeg’s Daniel Thiessen had a team-high six kills for the Wesmen, who hit -.196 as a team.
TWU had a 12.5 to 6 edge in blocks and a 6 to 4 advantage in aces. However, TWU also committed 20 serving errors to Winnipeg’s seven.
The Spartan hit .421 in the first set, with both Hofer and Jackson Howe (Calgary) earning three kills on four attempts without an error to lead the way. Thiessen had four of Winnipeg’s five kills in the set.
The second set saw more of the same from TWU, with the Spartans hitting .381 and Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.) contributing a team-high four kills.
Winnipeg got out to a quick start in the third set, but the Spartans struck back over the middle to latter stages, with TWU running away with the win down the stretch. TWU hit .333 in the third set, while Winnipeg hit -.438.
Eight different Spartans finished with at least one kill, while only three Wesmen had more than one kill.
QUOTABLE
Ben Josephson – TWU Head Coach
“I was pumped about the crowd tonight. The 300 killed it tonight. They got their crew out and the pregame videos were awesome and we all got fired up. I think the most exciting part of the night was the pregame stuff. Once the game started, it was kind of lacklustre. It was a really poor serving performance by our team. We made a tremendous amount of needless errors and I didn’t think our focus level was appropriate. I think we let The 300 down by not putting on a good show. That’s essentially six straight sets of volleyball below the level we need to be at, going back to last weekend’s five-set loss to Alberta. Tonight, it was two teams that didn’t have life. So hopefully we can address that tonight and put on a good show of Canada West volleyball tomorrow, because that wasn’t it.”
NOTABLE
• Prior to the game, TWU raised its 2018-19 U SPORTS championship banner.
• Spartan third-year setter Derek Epp (Saskatoon, Sask.) was playing in his first home game since representing Canada at the FIVB World Cup in Japan in mid-October.
• The Spartans defeated Winnipeg 3-0 and 3-1 last season (Nov. 9-10), and have won their previous seven matches against the Wesmen dating back to 2017.
• TWU finished second in Canada West with an 18-4 record last season, while Winnipeg finished 10th with a record of 7-15.
UP NEXT
The Spartans and Wesmen will play the rematch Saturday at 7 p.m. (PT) at the LEC.
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]