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Spartans maintain top spot

TWU men’s volleyball team shakes off first loss to earn split in battle of two of the country’s top teams
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TWU’s Eric Loeppky was named the Canada West third star of the week after an impressive weekend performance for the top-ranked Spartans. TWU Athletics file photo

Their first loss of the season was not enough to cost the Trinity Western Spartans their number one ranking for the country.

The Spartans went into Brandon, Man. and split a pair of matches against the Brandon Bobcats. The Bobcats jumped from No. 7 to No. 3 thanks to their big win.

TWU is 5-1 on the season while Brandon is 6-2.

The Bobcats had won 3-2 (15-25,25-19,23-25,25-19,15-13) on the Friday night before TWU evened things up with a 3-1 (25-10,22-25,25-22,25-19) win on Saturday.

“It was a cool response game. After we lost, there was some interesting lessons to be discussed and it was really neat to watch this group build towards this match,” said Spartans coach Ben Josephson.

Eric Loeppky — who was named the Canada West male third star of the week — was an offensive machine, tallying a career-high 26 kills while hitting .469. He also added three aces, six digs and a pair of blocks.

That was just one of several impressive individual performances, the coach noted.

Ben Lieuwen had a dozen kills while Jackson Howe and Pearson Eshenko each had four blocks. Adam Schriemer came through with 50 set assists and three aces.

“In the third set, we had a great performance from Maddux (Greves) off the bench. He came in at 18-18 and cracked the set open. Then, in the fourth set when Brandon was showing a bit of a comeback, Jackson Howe got three blocks in a row and that was the nail in the coffin,” Josephson said.

Loeppky also led the way in Friday’s loss with 17 kills.

The Trinity Western Spartans women’s volleyball team snapped a three-game losing streak and evened their record at 3-3 in the process.

The Spartans won 3-1 (25-22,20-25,25-15,25-19) and 3-2 (21-25,25-18,25-18,18-25,15-12) over the host Brandon Bobcats.

“It’s great to come in and get two wins against a top team like Brandon. They made us fight and work for this win,” said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer.

“Both teams battled hard. I think there were some times when we made it a little harder on ourselves than we needed to, but Brandon upped their level.

“I’m really proud of the team and the work they put in and now they get to reap the rewards of what they’ve been sewing over the last couple of weeks.”

Hilary Howe had 16 kills to lead TWU while Linda Damerau had 13 kills and 14 digs.

Katelyn Devaney led the way on Friday with 15 kills and seven blocks while Howe had 11 kills. Brie O’Reilly finished the night with 40 set assists.

Both Spartan teams host the Mount Royal Cougars on Nov. 17 and 18 at the Langley Events Centre.


sports@langleytimes.com

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