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Langley’s TWU men and women snare volleyball victory

Both squads defeated their UFV opponents 3-0 during road games
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Langley’s Brodie Hofer led the way with five kills as they took it 25-15 in the second set. (Langley Advance Times files)

Trinity Western University athletes had a successful trip to Abbotsford as both teams snared a W in their respective matches against the University of Fraser Valley.

Celebrations for Langley university’s Spartans doubled up when both men and women teams beat the University of Fraser Valley’s Cascades 3-0 at their away matches on Feb. 17.

The TWU Spartans’ relentless pressure from the service line was the difference on Thursday as they defeated the University of the Fraser Valley women’s volleyball team in three straight sets.

U Sports top-ranked Spartans registered nine aces on the night, hampering the Cascades’ efforts to sustain momentum offensively. They won the match, 25-16, 25-12, 25-16.

For men’s, the top-ranked Spartans prevailed by scores of 25-11, 25-15 and 25-13, and their offence was clicking all night – they hit .631 as a team.

RELATED: Abbotsford’s Jazmin Avila signs with TWU Spartans

Cascades head coach Janelle Rozema said that the women’s team served “really tough,” and their side made a lot of “unforced errors.” She added that her side, which is a fairly young is working on excellence endurance by learning to play “high-level” volleyball for longer.

“Offensively, Trinity just has a lot of threats. You can only dig for so long. Our attackers have to start putting balls away, and we lacked that tonight,” Rozema said.

Graham Walkey, Cascades senior setter for the men’s team, said that Spartans were a “little tighter and cleaner than they were last semester,” alluding to the fact that UFV took a combined three sets over two nights from the Spartans back in December.

“But really, we didn’t bring the intensity today. We have to have the effort and mental focus the whole time to be able to hang in with these guys. We just didn’t have it today,” he added.

Women’s volleyball 

The match started at 6 p.m., and the teams were 10-10 in the first set after back-to-back kills from Cascades’ Amanda Matsui. The Langley university went all aggressive later in the set, scoring nine of the last 10 points, with Mikayla Benterud and Olivia Heinen at the service line, to take it 25-16.

Trinity’s Savannah Purdy took over the match at the service line to open the second set – she reeled off three aces in quick succession and had the Cascades in all kinds of trouble as her side built an 8-1 lead. They cruised from there, winning 25-12.

The two teams will compete again on Friday, Feb. 18., this time at Langley Events Centre. The game starts at 6 p.m.

READ MORE: VIDEO: Langley’s Brodie Hofer named athlete of week after back-to-back volleyball wins

Men’s volleyball 

Two straight Eduardo Ferreira aces kept the Cascades close early in the first set, but the Spartans were red-hot from the service line themselves. They posted three aces in the set – including two from Jackson Howe – and kept the home team from getting its offence rolling en route to a 25-11 victory.

Bailey Burdick came off the bench to give the Cascades a lift in the second – he notched a block and a kill on back-to-back points to put the hosts up 5-4 early, but the Spartans were able to pull away in the middle portion of the set steadily. The Langley athletes then switched to complete attack mode, with 18 kills against just one error as a team, and Brodie Hofer led the way with five kills as they took it 25-15.

Spartans scored the first seven points of the set with Jesse Elser at the service line, and they went on to close it out 25-13.

The men will compete again on Friday, Feb. 18, this time on Spartan home ground at LEC. The game starts at 8 p.m.

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Tanmay Ahluwalia

About the Author: Tanmay Ahluwalia

Tanmay Ahluwalia is a journalist with a digital mindset and a proud alumnus of the University of Delhi.
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