LANGLEY, British Columbia– Led by fourth-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.), with 20 kills, seven digs, two aces, and three blocks, the Trinity Western Spartans defeated the Saskatchewan Huskies 3-1 Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 25-22, 25-22, 26-28, 25-17 win gives TWU the series 2-0 and a berth at next week's Canada West final four in Vancouver, B.C.
Fifth-year middle Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.), with seven kills, eight blocks, and one ace, and third-year outside Piers De Greeff (Victoria, B.C.), with seven kills, digs were also instrumental in the Spartans' win.
Emmitt Graham (Saskatoon, Sask.) with nine kills and four digs, Isaiah Mamer (Wilkie, Sask.) with eight kills and four digs, and Aaron Elser (Calgary, Alta.) with seven kills and four digs, led the Huskies.
TWU fifth-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) ran the Spartan attack, finishing with 37 set assists. Saskatchewan's Noah Opseth (Birch Hills, Sask.) finished with 27 set assists for the Huskies.
QUOTABLE
Adam Schriemer, TWU Head Coach
"It was nice to find some peace and calmness to our play in the fourth set. I think we felt some pressure as the game went on to win it and Saskatchewan was playing well and late in the third set, we seemed to feel that pressure. I'm just happy we could find ourselves a bit. It's hard to feel good about the game when we were serving as poorly as we did, which made the game feel exhausting. I think what we can learn about the playoffs is that it's not always clean. You just have to grind through some ugly games and be a little bit better than the other team and I think we also saw that across the league tonight too. We were not always at our best, but we just needed to be a little bit better than Saskatchewan and we were tonight.
"I think this team is good at just playing to win. We try to play well but, for many different reasons, you don't always do that. We didn't play well in some phases today, but we found a way to win and that's all that matters – survive and advance.
"Cory, Corn and Anselm – we're really good tonight and then Kaden took on a huge offensive load tonight, which was great to see."
UP NEXT
The Spartans will now head to Vancouver, B.C., for the Canada West Final Four hosted by the UBC Thunderbirds next weekend, March 6-8.
AS IT HAPPENED
The Huskies had a strong start and after an Aaron Elser kill led the Spartans 9-6. Saskatchewan extended the lead to 13-9 before TWU mounted its comeback. The Spartans quickly evened the set at 14-14 with a 5-1 run. From there, the teams played sideout ball to 20-20. Late in the set, the Spartans took over and after a Schmidt kill had taken the opening set 25-22. TWU hit at .409 (11-2-22), while Saskatchewan hit at .389 (10-3-18).
Both teams had trouble on the attack in the second set, with TWU committing seven attack errors and Saskatchewan having five errors. The set was even until the final points. Then, with both teams tied at 16-16, the Spartans got some separation to lead 22-19 after a Schmidt kill. But the Huskies closed the gap to one point, trailing 23-22, after a Graham kill. The Huskies couldn't get the lead as the Spartans closed out the set 25-23. The Spartans finished the set hitting at a low .185 (12-7-27), while the Huskies hit at .105 (7-5-19).
The third set was evenly played throughout, with no lead bigger than two points. The teams exchanged points, tying at 22-22. Then a Huskie attack error and a service ace from Schmidt gave TWU set, match, and series point, leading 24-22. Saskatchewan's Mamer's cross-court kill held off the first points to trail 24-23, with TWU taking a timeout. A TWU attack error by Schmidt evened the score at 24-24, but Saskatchewan followed with a service error to give TWU another match point. But Mamer again held off TWU. A Schmidt kill gave TWU another match point, but again the Huskies responded. Saskatchewan took the next two points on back-to-back TWU attack errors to give the Huskies set point at 27-26. Saskatchewan's Jacob Baird got the next point for the Huskies with a service ace to give Saskatchewan the set 28-26 to trail 2-1 in sets. TWU hit at .120 (9-6-25), while Saskatchewan hit at .200 (12-7-25).
In the fourth set, the Spartans slowly took control of the set, leading 15-11 after a Van Huizen kill. Then, with TWU up 17-12, Cory Schoenherr took over with two blocks and a kill to extend TWU's lead to 20-12. The Huskies again cut into the Spartans' lead, trailing by six points, 23-17. Then a hard kill by Schmidt and a block by Rein and Jackson Corneil ended the set, and the match with a 25-17 TWU win. To give the Spartans the series sweep 2-0. TWU hit at .276 (12-4-2) in the final set, while Saskatchewan hit at -.111 (6-9-27).
NOTABLE
- The Spartans finished the night hitting at .243 (44-19-103) while the Huskies finished at .124 (35-24-89).
- TWU had the edge in blocks 11-7, while Saskatchewan had a 29-22 edge in digs.
- The Spartans also led 10-3 in service aces.
- TWU defeated Saskatchewan 3-0 (25-23, 25-16, 25-17) Thursday night.
- Trinity Western is currently 48-23 lifetime against Saskatchewan.
- The Spartans finished 17-3 in conference play and second place in Canada West, while the Huskies finished 9-11 in CW and in seventh place.
- Earlier this year, the Spartans swept the Huskies 3-1 and 3-0 at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C., on February 6-7.
- Last year, the Spartans lost to the Huskies the best-of-three Canada West play-in series in Saskatoon, Sask., losing 3-1, winning 3-1, and losing 3-0.
- The Spartans had a bye week last week, while the Huskies swept the Brandon Bobcats 3-0 and 3-1 in the play-in series in Saskatoon, Sask.
- The Spartans are led by Canada West first-team all-stars fourth-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) and fifth-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany), and second-team all-star fifth-year middle Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.)
- The Huskies are led by Canada West first-team all-star fifth-year outside Emmett Graham (Saskatoon, Sask.).
