Box Score LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Brandon University Bobcats men's volleyball team's quest for a second consecutive Canada West league title was ended by the No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans Friday night by a score of 3-1 (25-17, 25-21, 22-25, 25-19) in the conference semifinals Friday at the Langley Events Centre. With the win, the Spartans, as one of the top two teams in Canada West, also earn a berth in the CIS national championship tournament for the fourth consecutive season.
 
The Spartans will play No. 3 Alberta, who beat No. 6 Thompson Rivers in the other semifinal, for the conference championship Saturday at 7 p.m. at the LEC. The Bobcats will play the Thompson Rivers WolfPack for the Canada West bronze medal.
 
Led by Nick Del Bianco (Surrey, B.C.), who had 22 kills, the Spartans were impressive in three of the four sets and, hitting .346 or better in the first second and fourth sets, TWU earned a hard-fought win. With 14 blocks to Brandon's 5.5, the Spartans made up for their 19 serving errors that accompanied just six aces. Brandon had three aces and five errors.
 
"There was times when we played well and controlled the game, and there was some times when we made some mental or physical mistakes that allowed them to go on runs," says Bobcats coach Grant Wilson. "There were times were it felt like if we could push it to a fifth set we'd be okay, but unfortunately we just never got there."
 
With TWU up 19-17 late in the fourth set, the Spartans Derek Thiessen (Coquitlam, B.C.) gave the home side its first three-point edge of the set. Trinity Western tallied the next two points to take a 22-17 lead and that all but sealed the set and the match.
 
After finishing the regular season atop the Canada West standings for the second time in three years, the Spartans now have a chance to duplicate that 2011-12 effort when TWU won the conference title on home court. That year, the Spartans also went on to win the CIS gold medal.
 
Brandon will play TRU for the bronze medal Saturday at 5 p.m. at the LEC.
 
"Nothing really changes for us now. It's a game that still needs to be played and a game that we're going to try to win," Wilson adds.

After Del Bianco's effort, it was Thiessen leading the Spartans with 13 kills and six blocks while Lucas Van Berkel had 10 kills while hitting .769 and a match-high eight blocks. Adam Schriemer (Winnipeg) had a match-high 42 assists while Tyler Koslowsky (Abbotsford, B.C.) had a team-high 11 digs.
 
The Bobcats Sebastien Steigmeier had a team-high 20 kills and 15 digs while Sam Tuivai had 13 kills and two aces. Setter David Stasica had a team-high 34 assists.

With a boisterous crowd on their side, the Spartans opened a quick 7-3 lead in the first set. But Brandon responded with a 6-0 run that gave the Bobcats a 9-7 lead. However, a 5-1 TWU run gave the Spartans a 12-10 lead and an advantage the home side would possess the rest of the way.
 
Building their lead as the set progressed, TWU ran away with it down the stretch. A Del Bianco kill gave TWU its first crack at set point and the Spartans took the set 25-17 after a Bobcats attack error.
 
The third set was all Bobcats early as they took a 6-1 lead and remained up by five at 14-9. But a kill from Thiessen seemed to spark the Spartans and after a Branden Schmidt (De Winton, Alta.) block, TWU got within one point at 16-15 before eventually tying it at 18-18. Then a Van Berkel block gave the Spartans the lead at 21-20 and TWU didn't let up. The Spartans pushed that edge to 23-20 and then 24-21, before a Brandon attack error gave TWU the set 25-21.
 
The Spartans started the third set just like the first, building a 7-3 lead. But again, similar to the first set, Brandon responded big time, running off 10 straight points as Steigmeier led a remarkable streak that gave the Bobcats a 13-7 lead. Then, after a Tuivai ace, Brandon went up 20-12 and looked in control. But, TWU came all the way back and, thanks numerous stuff blocks, tied the set 21-21. However, just as it seemed like all the momentum was on the Spartans side, Brandon took advantage of a TWU serving error to spark a 4-1 run to capture the set.
 
After hitting .346 and .419 in the first two sets respectively, TWU hit .114 in the third set. Countering that was Brandon hitting .269 in the third set after hitting .032 and .114 over the first two sets.
 
The fourth set proved to be a slugfest as neither team was able to take anything more than a two-point lead for most of the set. With TWU up 19-17, the Spartans finally earned a three-point lead after Thiessen found an open pocket on the Bobcats side. Trinity Western pushed that lead to five points after a Van Berkel kill and then it seemed just a matter of time before the Spartans would end it. Despite committing eight serving errors in the set, TWU scored the final two points to win 25-19 and take the match.
 
Now TWU not only has a chance at a Canada West title but will get the chance return to the CIS championship tournament in search of redemption after losing to in the quarter-finals last year against Western.
 
"The better team won. End of story. I thought they served pretty tough and put us under pressure and for whatever reason we didn't have everyone on the same page. We fought the ball and in situations that we have typically been able to swing our way out of, we just couldn't tonight. Credit to them for putting us under the pressure they did," Wilson adds.