BRANDON – The top seeds of the CIS Women's Volleyball Championship are into the semifinals after fighting off a spirited challenge from the hosts on Friday.

The defending national champion Trinity Western Spartans fought off a raucous crowd and a third-set push by the Brandon Bobcats to earn a 25-23, 25-15, 23-25, 25-19 at BU's Healthy Living Centre.
 
CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/index
 
Sophie Carpentier had 18 kills and two aces, while Elizabeth Wendel had 16 kills and eight block assists for the Spartans, who kept their composure despite the vocal Brandon supporters only metres away from the court.

"It was awesome. You can't prepare for that," said Katelyn Devaney, who was named Trinity Western's player of the match after picking up seven kills and seven block assists. "We were just talking about how there's no way you can prepare for that kind of intensity and that kind of closeness with the fans, so it was tough but I wouldn't change that for anything."

The Spartans will play UBC in a semifinal match on Saturday, while the Bobcats will settle for a consolation-side matchup against Montreal. Despite the disappointment, BU head coach Lee Carter was proud of his team's performance.

"We should be proud of the way we played that entire match," Carter said. "(The Spartans are) number-one in Canada for a reason and the defending national champs. They played with poise in a very intense crowd who did absolutely everything to help us out. We worked hard every single play. There was not a time where our girls didn't work hard on a point, and that's been our forte all the way through."

The Bobcats led the first set 23-22 before the Spartans answered with the next three points, capping the set with a block by Devaney and Wendel.
There was no doubt in the second set a Trinity Western opened with a 10-2 run and committed only two errors in the set.

An early 9-3 lead helped Brandon win the third set, before Trinity Western rebounded to take the fourth, putting the match away on a kill by Carpentier.

Shanlee McLennan, who led the Bobcats with 15 kills said the only real disappointment in the match for her team was the second set.

"I don't know if I could pinpoint it to one thing, I think maybe we kind of sat back on our heels a little bit and let them take control," McLennan said. "We just kind of beat ourselves, we let them walk all over us. But after that we kind of got it together. The third set was way better and the last set we fought hard too."

The Spartans, on a six-match winning streak at national championships, had to wait for the late match to found out their next opponent, but Trinity Western head coach Ryan Hofer was confident that Friday's match left them ready for anything.

"You know what, that might be one of the hardest games I've coached in just based on the volume, based on trying to communicate our athletes, based on just trying to manage a team with it just stinkin' loud," Hofer said.
 
STAT LEADERS
 
Complete Stats: http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/wvball/2016/championship
 

Trinity Western

Kills: Sophie Carpentier (18), Elizabeth Wendel (16)
Points: Sophie Carpentier (21.5), Elizabeth Wendel (20)
Blocks: Elizabeth Wendel (0,8)
Digs: Brie O'Reilly (14)
Service aces: Sophie Carpentier (2)
 
Player of the match: Katelyn Devaney
 
Brandon
Kills: Shanlee McLennan (15), Gillian Leech (10)
Points: Jessica Josenhans (17), Gillian Leech (10)

Blocks: Nikki Majewski (1,2), Courtney Roberts (0,3)

Digs: Nikki Majewski (13)
Service aces: Nikki Majewski (3)
 
Player of the match: Shanlee McLennan