VANCOUVER - The clash of the Canada West titans lived up to the hype Friday night, as the No. 1 Trinity Western Spartans took a thrilling five-set victory (25-22, 22-25, 25-18, 25-27, 15-10) over the No. 2 UBC Thunderbirds at War Memorial Gym.
TWU improved to 16-1 on the season atop the Canada West and extended their winning streak to 15 consecutive matches. The 'Birds had their twelve-match win streak snapped and are now tied with the Alberta Golden Bears (13-4) for second in the conference.
Eric Loeppky racked up 21 kills for the Spartans with four service aces, four total blocks and five digs in the hard-fought victory. Jackson Howe totalled 16 kills with a .591 hitting percentage and an ace, while Pearson Eshenko added 12 kills with six total blocks and an ace.
Matt Neaves led the 'Birds with 15 kills on .429 hitting,
Michael Dowhaniuk had 10 kills with three total blocks and two aces, and
Gerard Murray put up six kills with six total blocks in the loss.
"We showed good fight in the fourth set there," said UBC head coach
Mike Hawkins after the narrow defeat. "I would've liked to have seen a little more aggression from our side in the fifth set. Things started off a little squirrely on serve-receive and that kind of unsettled us, but it's a lesson we had to learn and one we'll take forward into tomorrow. They were very efficient in the middle, so for us it starts from the service line to keep them out of system. Defensively there are also a few adjustments we can make to hopefully keep their efficiency down."
There wasn't much separating the two teams coming into the matchup, and the first set was par for the course. With the score knotted up at 9-9, the Spartans went on a brief three-point run and carried that lead into the first technical timeout up 16-13. Henry Rempel kept the three-point edge at 20-17 with a kill before Murray dropped an ace to make it a 23-21, but followed it up with a service error to give the visitors their first set point at 24-21. Neaves blasted a kill to extend the set, but another T-Bird service error lifted TWU to a 25-22 first set finish.
Brody Hofer served up an ace for TWU at 10-7 in the second set but gave it back after his next serve sailed long. Hofer smacked a kill at 14-12 Spartans, but Neaves responded with a huge kill off the block to make it a one-point deficit. Down 16-13 again at the technical timeout, the 'Birds stormed back and tied it at 16-16 on a TWU attack error. Loeppky came up with a big block to force a UBC timeout at 20-18 before Murray stoned Eshenko to draw even at 20-20. The T-Birds earned an edge on a service error to go up 23-22 and
Nick Mickelberry gave the home team their first set point on a nifty kill on his first attack of the match. Backup setter
Zec Johnson stepped up to the service line and dropped in an ace to lift UBC to a 25-22 set win.
"We've had a ton of confidence in [Johnson] and [Mickelberry] to come in and do their job," said Hawkins on the performance of the two clutch bench players for the 'Birds. "I think they relish the opportunity to be put in those situations and we look to them in the bitter end to be the closers. All year they've done a great job."
TWU jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the third and maintained the advantage to yet another 16-13 score at the technical timeout. The Spartans took control and went up 23-17 on a string of UBC errors before Derek Epp earned a kill and Hofer served an ace to take the set 25-18.
The fourth set was tied at 8-8 before
Jordan Deshane cranked a kill and the 'Birds gained momentum on a big block by Dowhaniuk and Murray at 15-12. Once again, the scoreboard read 16-13 at the technical timeout - but for the first time in UBC's favour. It didn't last long before the Spartans tied it at 16-16 on a Howe ace and retook the lead at 19-18 with a Loeppky kill. Johnson dropped his second ace of the match at 23-23 and Murray came up with block to give the 'Birds a set point. The set continued until TWU served long to give UBC their third set point, and captain Deshane put up the block to send the match to a fifth and deciding set.
TWU quickly earned a 4-0 lead on a UBC error and Loeppky snuck a leftie tip past the T-Bird block to go up 5-1.The teams traded missed serves and switched ends with the Spartans up 8-4. A T-Bird service error gave the No. 1-ranked Spartans a set point at 14-7, but UBC stayed alive on a crucial block. T-Bird setter
Ben Hooker served up back-to-back aces to extend the match, but Jacob Kern closed it out at 15-10.
The two teams square off in a rematch on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. PT during Pride Night at War Memorial Gym.
