Scheduled Game: SASKATCHEWAN-CANADA WEST SEMIFINAL

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 3 T Saskatchewan 8 20 15 0 Trinity Western 25 25 25 3 « FINAL

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Game Recap

Men’s Volleyball (Canada West Quarterfinals)
Friday, February 16, 2007
TWU Spartans (3) vs. the University of Saskatchewan Huskies (0)
(25-8, 25-20, 25-15)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPARTANS GOING TO NATIONALS
-TWU dominates Saskatchewan in series win

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Trinity Western University Spartans will make their fourth consecutive appearance at the CIS National Championships after they dominated the visiting University of Saskatchewan Huskies 3-0 (25-8, 25-20, 25-15) on Friday night in front of a boisterous crowd who couldn’t get enough of the Spartans powerful balanced attack. TWU will now prepare for the Canada West Final Four hosted by the University of Alberta on Thursday, February 22 and Saturday, February 24 which will determine seeding positions for the CIS National Championships held at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario from March 2-4; where the Spartans will look to defend their national championship.

The Huskies were never really in this match as the Spartans impressive start set the tone for the entire match which saw the home team outscore their opponent 75-43. “Our team played really well tonight,” said fifth year, setter turned middle, Josh Howatson (Victoria) who was playing in his last match in front of the home crowd. “A lot of emotion goes into it when it’s the last home game for some guys. These guys have been in a lot of battles and tonight they knew what was at stake so they played pretty well tonight,” added TWU Head Coach Ron Pike.

Led by strong blocking and hitting from Howatson and Steve Rogalsky (Maple Ridge, B.C.), TWU got off to a fantastic start and found themselves up 9-1 right off the bat. The Huskies had used both their time-outs before the second technical break (3-12) as the visitors tried to come up with a way to contain the strength of the Spartan hitters and looming presence of their blockers. Saskatchewan could generate little though and were down an insurmountable 6-16 at the second break and only scored two more points before TWU took the first set, 25-8, in what was a brilliant display of their athleticism and skill.

“I didn’t have to say much to the guys – they knew what they had to do. All I said was let’s give the seniors a chance to go out with style and make it memorable,” commented Coach Pike on his teams’ devastating start to the match.

The beginning of the second was a much different story with the Huskies determined to make up for their lackluster start. TWU ran into attack error problems while Saskatchewan began to find their game and were up 8-6 at the first break. They maintained this lead out of the second time-out off timely hitting from Brian Loden (Weyburn, Sask.) and Gavin Little (Fairview, Alta.). Little had three kills for the visitors in the late stages of the second, but the Spartans once again forced the Huskies into attack errors and went on to take the second set 25-20.

With a guaranteed National Championships berth in the back of their minds, TWU was looking to put away Saskatchewan in the third set. They got off to a great start as the Spartan blockers remained a tower at the net forcing the visitors to call a time-out with the score 5-0 in favor of the Spartans. But Saskatchewan could not get their offense going and hurt themselves with nine errors on the attack in the set. TWU sustained their pressure throughout the entire frame never allowing Saskatchewan to gain any ground and the home team went on to defeat Saskatchewan 25-15 in the third to take the quarterfinal series 2-0.

On a night where the Spartans were attacking strong from all areas of the floor, Spartan bench boss stated that, “we wanted to get some more volume through the middle and get Josh [Howatson] the ball a little more. I thought that Chaim [Schalk] did a good job of distributing the ball and we were way more effective in running our second tempo balls too which froze their blockers.”

Josh Howatson led the way for TWU as he went nine for 11 on the attack with zero errors for an outstanding efficiency of 81.8%, while fellow senior Jeff Stel (Langley, B.C.) finished with seven kills and five digs and libero Mark Lindemulder (Calgary) recorded a match high 12 digs. On the visitors’ side, Gavin Little tallied seven kills and six digs.

“Seeding is fairly important. This is year one of the first years that the Canada West [Final Four] tournament will actually determine the seeding and it’s definitely huge in preparation for Nationals,” said Coach Pike as he commented on the importance of the Canada West Final Four.

TWU will now head to the University of Alberta for the Canada West Final Four tournament which will be played on Thursday, February 22 and Saturday, February 24. The tournament draw and match times will be announced early next week.

Match Notes: Neither team had a player in double digits on the attack...The Huskies committed more attack errors than they did kills, 25 and 22 respectively, while the Spartans committed only nine attack errors to their 33 kills...TWU tallied eight service aces and seven errors compared to Saskatchewan’s two service aces and six errors...The Spartans recorded 13 total team blocks to the Huskies four...Tonight’s game was broadcasted live on Spartan Web Radio (SWR)...SWR will have a week off before they travel with the team to Hamilton to follow the Spartans throughout the National Championship...

-TW-
-Jamie Born, Sports Information Assistant-

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