LANGLEY, British Columbia – Trinity Western hit .391 as a team and committed only eight attacking errors as the No. 3-ranked Spartans rolled to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-14, 25-13) win over Brandon Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
The trio of Sophie Carpentier , Elly Wendel and Brie O'Reilly combined for 25 kills and just two attacking errors, with Carpentier earning 11 kills, Wendel tallying 10 and O'Reilly collecting five.
After a back and forth battle early in the first set, the Spartans (17-3) took over in the late stages with a 5-1 set-ending run and, with momentum in its corner, the home side cruised to convincing wins in the second and third sets.
TWU had nine aces as a group, including four from Ashtyn McKenzie and three from Wendel. Brandon (7-13) had four aces. The Spartans also had a 6-2 edge in blocks.
Spartans setter Nikki Cornwall had 33 assists and 10 digs.
Brandon's
Nikala Majewski led the Bobcats with nine kills, while
Gillian Leech had a match-high 14 digs. Ravyn Wiebe had three aces.
The Bobcats were held to .100 hitting.
The teams traded points in the first set with neither side taking more than a three-point lead through the middle stages. With the Spartans possessing a 20-19 lead, the home side took control, launching a 5-1 run to end the set. Carpentier tallied her fifth and sixth kills of the set to put the Spartans on set point and a Wendel kill finished the set.
TWU hit .353 as a team, while Brandon was held to .156 hitting.
The Spartans went up 6-2 in the second set and never trailed. Rolling with a .385 efficiency, the Spartans pulled away in the latter stages as they took the set by 11 points. TWU had five aces and a pair of blocks to spark a dominant second set win.
The third set was more of the same from TWU. A Wendel kill put TWU up 10-4 and the Spartans put together their best set of the night, hitting .444 and only committing one attacking error. Conversely, the Bobcats struggled, hitting just .032. Coming off the bench, Alison Quiring (Brandon, Man.) set up match point with her first kill of the night before Hillary Howe (Calgary) finished it off with her only kill of the contest.
The Spartans have a bye next weekend before travelling to play Winnipeg Feb. 17-18. The Bobcats are on the road against Calgary next weekend to play Mount Royal Feb. 10-11.
