Trinity Western University’s hockey player Jarrett Fontaine scored two goals, including an overtime winner, just 17 seconds into the extra frame, as the Spartans extended their 11-game winning streak.
Fontaine, out of Humboldt, Sask. was instrumental in secure the 5-4 victory over Victoria at the Langley Events Centre Saturday.
It was also a historic night for Florian Niedermaier (Davos, Switzerland), who scored his 31st career goal to become TWU’s all-time leading goal-scorer. Neidermiaer scored 1:38 into the game to pass TWU alum Josh MacKnee for top spot in the program’s history books.
Spartans head coach Barret Kropf noted that Niedermaier is one of the Spartans’ most consistent and dependable players.
“For him to get an offensive record like that is a really good accomplishment. He’s always taking care of things for us at both ends of the ice and he’s a smart hockey player,” Kropf said.
TWU’s Stefan Gonzales (Surrey) and Dustin Deugau (Calgary) each chipped in one goal in the win.
The Spartans are back on the ice Feb. 3 when they travel to play Simon Fraser.
• Several other Spartans teams also competed this past weekend.
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Men’s volleyball: Still on top
No. 1 ranked Trinity Western men’s volleyball team continued its win streak this past weekend, sweeping Regina and capturing its 13th win in a row. The Spartans had a 3-0 (25-19, 25-19, 29-27) win Friday night and a 3-0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-17) victory Saturday against the Cougars at the Langley Events Centre.
In Friday’s win second-year left side Eric Loeppky (Steinbach, Man.) finished with a match-high 12 kills and four aces. Jesse Elser (Calgary) had 11 kills, while hitting a match-high .429.
Setter Adam Schriemer (Winnipeg) had 21 assists, while Maddux Greves (Calgary) came off the bench to earn 16 assists.
TWU finished with a .329 hitting percentage compared to Regina, who hit .123.
Saturday, Loeppky was at it again and led TWU with 15 kills while hitting .423 and adding four aces. Middle Pearson Eshenko (Banff) had a match-high eight blocks.
The Spartans finished the night hitting .284 and TWU had an 11-4 edge in blocks.
The Spartans escaped with the first set despite hitting just .100 as a team. TWU opened the night with a 5-0 run, but Regina got right back in it, making for a tight first set. With Regina leading 23-22, the Spartans finished the set with three straight points, capped by a Loeppky kill. The Cougars hit .000 in the set.
Despite the weekend sweep, Regina kept TWU on its toes the entire match and Spartans head coach Ben Josephson was pleased with the way his team battled down the stretch.
“I thought our kids responded really well in the second and third sets. A lot of that had to do with how Mark (Antoniuk of Langley) played. We call him GPS because he knows the court so well and I felt like GPS was dialed in today,” Josephson said.
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Women’s volleyball: An up-and-down weekend before Calgary
The No. 9 Trinity Western women’s volleyball team bounced back from a five-set loss Friday (26-24, 19-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13) to earn a weekend split with Regina after knocking off the Cougars 3-1 (19-25, 25-12, 25-20, 25-18) Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
Friday’s match fifth-year middle Katelyn Devaney (Port Coquitlam) led the Spartans with 13 kills, while Hilary Howe (Calgary) added 12 kills. First-year middle Avery Heppell (Langley) had a career-high 13 blocks, equalling TWU’s single-match record, which has been registered three times by Devaney.
Setter Brie O’Reilly had a career-high 11 blocks to go with 38 assists.
In Saturday’s match Howe had a career-high 20 kills and hit .400 to lead the Spartans to a key victory. Devaney had a match-high 10 blocks to go with nine kills.
O’Reilly had a big night with 43 assists as well as five kills and six blocks. Ashtyn McKenzie (Vernon) had a career-high 17 digs while adding five kills.
The Spartans men’s and women’s volleyball teams have a bye next week before travelling to Calgary to play the Dinos Feb. 2-3.
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Men’s basketball: Team down two
Spartans men’s basketball team dropped two contests on the road against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies.
In the Spartans 71-97 loss on Friday TWU second-year guard Pogos Trunyan (Sacramento, Calif.) had a team-high 19 points, five assists and four rebounds. Fourth-year forward Tee Maberry (Pasadena, Calif.) added nine points and eight rebounds.
The Spartans made it a closer game Saturday, but the Huskies edged out TWU 80-71. The Spartans’ fourth-year guard Vartan Tanielian (Surrey) had a team-high 22 points with six rebounds. Trunyan chipped in with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists.
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Women’s basketball: First-ever Huskies defeat
The Spartans’ women’s basketball noticed a historic win against the No. 6 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies 69-68 Friday.
It was the first time the the Spartans have ever beaten the Huskies in Saskatoon and is just the fourth time in 20 meetings all-time that TWU has earned a victory over Saskatchewan.
Fifth-year forward Kayla Gordon (Prince George) led the Spartans with 19 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
Third-year guard Sarah Buckingham chipped in with 14 points, three rebounds and three assists, while fourth-year guard Jessie Brown (Langley) also had 14 points.
Saturday’s game the Huskies rallied to beat the Spartans 82-64.
Fourth-year Tessa Ratzlaff (Abbotsford) scored 21 points, while adding eight rebounds and two assists.
Gordon had 16 points, two rebounds and an assist. With her performance, Gordon tied Spartan alum Holly Strom for TWU’s all-time career points record, at 1,112. Gordon’s next point will make her TWU’s all-time points leader.
The Spartans and Huskies play the rematch Saturday at at the LEC.
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Track and field: Competing at home
Trinity Western’s David Boyd (Victoria) vaulted 4.75 metres to finish third to help lead the Spartans at the Washington State University Open Saturday.
Boyd bettered his season-opening vault of 4.61m, which he cleared at last weekend’s University of Washington Preview.
On the track, second-year Mowa Adeleye (Calgary) won the 60m hurdles competition in 8.85. Adeleye also finished sixth in high jump, clearing 1.55m.
Meanwhile, first-year Grace Konrad (Edmonton) finished first in the 300m in 40.76 and third in the 200m in 26.21.
In the 300m, Aidan Kits (Langley) came in third overall with a time of 37.15. First-year Ben Tjernagel (Coquitlam) wasn’t far behind Kits, coming in fourth in 37.26.
In the long jump pit, Rachel Jerome (Ladysmith) was fourth with a mark of 5.53m, which equaled her season-opening mark last weekend at the UW Preview.
The Spartans are back in action at the UW Invitational Jan. 26-27. TWU’s pole vaulters are also competing this weekend in the Spartan pole vault open Saturday at the David E. Enarson Gym.