For the first time in eight matches between the UBC Okanagan Heat and Trinity Western Spartans the contest did not go a full five sets.
The Spartans staved off the Heat bid to split the weekend on Saturday night, and earned a 3-1 win with a strong performance in the clinching set.
Set scores were 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, and 25-16.
The fourth was close early, with four ties in the first ten points. A three-point run by the Spartans to go up 7-5 was the turning point in the set, as from that point on they never gave up the lead. Only allowing the Heat to score consecutive points twice from then on, Trinity Western went up 16-10 at the technical time-out and put together a four-point run to close out the set 25-16 and take the match 3-1.
The Heat finished the match with more kills (54-49), but the Spartans' consistency was what won them the night. Hitting percentages were .235 to .210 in favour of the visitors, and UBCO committed 25 attacking errors to Trinity's 18. TWU also had a better night from their middles, finishing with 15 total blocks while the home side had just four.
Sophie Carpentier once again led the Spartan attack, putting up a match-high 22 kills. Katelyn Devaney, Elizabeth Wendel, and Ashtyn McKenzie were dominant at the net, finishing with eight, seven, and seven total blocks respectively.
The Heat hitters were led by Kaitlynn Given, Michelle Jakszuk, and Siobhan Fitzpatrick, who finished with 16, 15, and 14 kills. Megan Festival, having recently been switched to the libero position, led UBCO with 17 digs.
Both teams came out firing in the first set, with the Spartans putting down 13 kills on .222 hitting and the Heat earning 12 on .139. The set was back and forth throughout, with neither team able to stretch a lead beyond three points until the very end, when Trinity strung together three straight to earn set point at 24-20. Katelyn Devaney hammered a kill straight down past the Heat blockers for the final point, giving the Spartans a 25-21 set win.
The second set saw the Heat take a much larger lead, going up 16-8 at the technical time-out and by double digits shortly after, 19-9. A seven-point run by Trinity Western made the score 19-15, but the teams traded points from then on and the Heat took the set 25-19. The hitting for UBC Okanagan was the difference maker in the frame, as they put away 15 kills on .323 hitting to the Spartans' eight and .125.
The third set started as close as the first, with six ties before the technical time-out. At the break the Heat were up 16-11 after four kills in seven points. The Spartans came out of the time-out on a mission and put together an eight-point run to jump ahead 19-16. The Heat responded with a run of their own, stringing together four straight points to re-take the lead, 20-19. After four more ties and three lead changes, the visitors managed to score back-to-back points twice in the final points, primarily thanks to Heat attacking errors, to take the set 25-23.
The UBC Okanagan Heat men’s volleyball team fell to the defending national champion Trinity Western Spartans by a final score of 3-0 on Saturday night in Kelowna.
Set scores were 25-12, 25-20, and 25-18.
Ryan Sclater led the Spartans with 16 kills, with Blake Scheerhoorn behind him with 12. For the Heat Kyle Hinchey set the pace with a team-high eight kills, and Lars Bornemann finished with six.
As a team, the Spartans were the dominant hitting team. They finished ahead in kills (38-22), hitting percentage (.333 - .062), service aces (8-2), assists (35-20), and blocks (6-3).
The first set saw the Spartans at the top of their game, putting away 11 kills on .348 hitting while holding the Heat to five on -.103. They took control quickly, putting together an eight-point run that included five kills from Ryan Sclater to take the 11-2 lead. The UBCO side weren’t able to put together more than two consecutive points throughout, and the visitors took the set handily, 25-12.
The second set was much closer than the first, with the score 16-13 in favour of the Spartans at the technical time-out. Blake Scheerhoorn’s hitting was key in the latter half of the set, putting away a number of kills to stretch the Trinity lead to six at 21-15. The Heat continued to battle, though, and a pair of big kills from Lars Bornemann and Kyle Hinchey put the Heat down 24-20. Another kill from Sclater closed out the set, as Trinity took it 25-20.
The final set saw the Heat own a lead through the early going, thanks to a run of four-of-five points to jump ahead 6-2. The home side held the lead until the Spartans tied it up at 10-10, then 11-11 before taking back the lead at 12-11. At the technical time-out the Spartans had pulled ahead 16-13, and the Heat only scored consecutive points once from then on as Trinity raised their game again and rolled to the 25-18 set win.
The UBC Okanagan Heat (4-12) have next weekend off, and will play their next matches in the UBC Okanagan gymnasium against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies (7-7) on February 3 & 4. The Trinity Western Spartans (15-1) will play their next matches in Edmonton on January 27 & 28 against the University of Alberta Golden Bears (12-2).
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