LANGLEY, BC - The No. 6 UBC Thunderbirds men's volleyball team ended the Canada West regular season with a 3-0 loss (25-15, 25-13, 25-16) to the No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans in Langley on Saturday night.
UBC finishes the 2011-12 campaign with a record of 10-10, while the 19-1 Spartans won their first ever Canada West regular season league title.
TWU was an efficient lot from start to finish, hitting .443 compared to UBC, who hit .071.
The T-Birds were led by
Tanner Kozak, who had five kills and one block,
Robert Bennett, who had four kills and two blocks, and
Noah Derksen, who had four kills and two digs.
Trinity Western was led by setter Ben Ball, who had 37 assists, as he set the Canada West single season record for assists per set at 11.54. The previous record was held by Brandon's Andrew Korol, who had 11.49 per set in 2008-09.
The first set started with the teams trading points until the game was tied 9-9.
But then, a kill by Rudy Verhoeff launched the Spartans offensive attack as they scored six straight points to take a 15-9 lead following a Steven Marshall kill.
The T-Birds clawed back to within three points at 16-13 after a Kozak kill but shortly thereafter, it was the Spartans reestablishing control and going on a 4-0 run to take a 20-13 lead. A Ball and Van Berkel block finished the set with the Spartans up 25-15. Trinity Western finished the set hitting .407 compared to UBC who hit .032.
Verhoeff had a set-high four kills while UBC's Bennett and Kozak each had three kills.
The second set saw the Spartans in complete control as they started with a 5-1 run and never looked back. After a pair of Howatson aces, Trinity Western took a 10-5 lead and continued to roll.
With both Verhoeff and Marshall contributing three kills each, the Spartans hit .471 and only made two attack errors in the set, cruising to a 12-point win, 25-13.
The T-Birds Kozak and
Cary Brett each had two kills in the set to lead UBC.
The third set was simply more of the same as Trinity Western hit .462 en route to a convincing nine-point win.
With the score 3-3, a Dan Jansen Van Doorn ace sparked a 9-0 from the Spartans that gave Trinity Western a lead they wouldn't relinquish. A kill from Van Berkel capped the run with the Spartans up 12-3.
From there, Trinity Western rolled the rest of the way as they never led by less than seven points.
UBC will begin preparations for the playoffs. After finishing sixth in the conference, the Thunderbirds will open the post-season next weekend on the road at third-place Alberta, which is where current T-Birds head coach
Richard Schick won the CIS title in 2001-02 as the bench boss of the Golden Bears.
- with files from Mark Janzen (Assistant Trinity Western Sports Information Director)
-30-
