VANCOUVER - The Trinity Western Spartans (17-1) demonstrated their potent attack in a 3-0 (25-9, 25-23, 25-18) victory over the UBC Thunderbirds (13-5) in front of a boisterous Pride Night crowd at War Memorial Gym. TWU now has a six-point lead atop the Canada West standings, while the 'Birds are two points back of Alberta (14-4) for third.
 
"We served in bounds tonight...so that helped," joked Spartan head coach Ben Josephson following his team's sixteenth consecutive victory. "I think both teams just had to serve tough and tonight we found a bit better serving rhythm than they did. If they had served like they're capable of serving, we would have had another epic match. The atmosphere was unbelievable here tonight - that was one of the best regular season Canada West crowds we had seen in a long time."
 
TWU finished the night hitting .510 with 31 kills, as Eric Loeppky led the way with 11 kills and three aces for the Spartans. Jesse Elser made his presence felt with nine kills and two aces with three digs in the victory.


 
UBC's Matt Neaves had a team-high 10 kills and Coltyn Liu returned to action with eight kills and an ace.
 
The Spartans sprinted out to a 20-8 lead in the opening set on a monsterous back row kill by Jacob Kern, and Loeppky lifted TWU to their first set point by punishing a T-Bird free ball before Eshenko closed out the first set 25-9.

?? MVB | @TWUSpartans wins the 2nd set 2-0 25-23 over @ubcmvb. #GoBirdsGo pic.twitter.com/RGEq7lArDW

— UBC Thunderbirds / @UBCTBirds (@ubctbirds) January 26, 2020

 
UBC bounced back in the second set, and with the score tied 12-12 Neaves exploded on a cross-court kill to go up one. The visitors responded with an Elser kill and Jackson Howe unleashed off the block to give TWU a 20-16 advantage. Neaves came through again for the 'Birds with a kill to make it 23-21 Spartans and Michael Dowhaniuk brought the 'Birds within one at 23-22 before Zec Johnson's serve sailed long. The Thunderbirds stayed alive on a Jacob Kern service error, but the Spartans took the second set on a UBC service error at 25-23.


 
Neaves tied up the third set at 10-10 on a kill but back-to-back T-Bird errors put TWU back on top, and Loeppky ripped an ace to force a UBC timeout. The visitors continued to roll, and Elser teed off down the line to give the Spartans a match point at 24-17 before winning it at 25-18.
 
"We looked at this weekend with a playoff mindset, almost like a dress rehearsal against a playoff-calibre team," said Josephson. "That's the type of team we'll have to beat in the quarterfinals or semifinals, so it was a great test for us and now we get to go home and try to do it again against Brandon."
 
The Spartans return home next weekend to face the fourth-place Bobcats (11-5), while the 'Birds head into a bye week before taking on the winless UBCO Heat (0-16) on the road.