The Trinity Western Spartans dreams of a second-straight medal at the CIS national championships are over.
The women's volleyball, which won bronze in 2011, has been relegated to the consolation side of the draw at the eight-team tournament in Hamilton following a four-set loss on Friday to the Montreal Carabins in the quarter-finals.
Montreal won 3-1 (25-22,11-25,25-21,25-23) in the match, which was played at McMaster University's Burridge Gymnasium.
Montreal was the third seed and Trinity Western was No. 6.
Statistically, the Spartans outplayed the Carabins — finishing with a .161 hitting percentage and 47 kills compared to Montreal's .072 percentage and 29 kills — but were plagued by serving errors all game, finishing with 20 errors in the four sets.
"It's tough to play a team like this in the first round but I thought the team was prepared and I thought the things we were doing to put them in trouble were working but we just didn't execute some stuff on our side," said Spartans coach Ryan Hofer.
"There is a lot of weight in this game in regards to the serve pass. Without question, you have to win those two battles or at least do very well in them.
"And we struggled in that area, especially the serving. It's tough to say it, but that's what it came down to."
Royal Richardson led the team with 15 kills, four blocks and two aces while Amy Leschied had 10 kills, 10 digs and three blocks. Alicia Perrin had nine kills, six blocks and two aces.
After the teams split the first two sets — with the Spartans winning theirs convincingly — Trinity Western quickly built an 11-5 lead. But Montreal launched what would turn out to be a set-turning and match-turning comeback, scoring 20 of the next 30 points to win.
And in the fourth set, with the score tied at 20, the Spartans were done in by service errors, committing three amongst Montreal's final four points.
The Spartans have two games remaining and the best they can finish is in fifth spot.