Two more wins have kept the Trinity Western Spartans men's volleyball team perfect season intact.
The Spartans improved to 14-0 in Canada West conference play — as well as the top spot in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport national rankings — after a 3-2 (20-25,25-21,25-11,25-27,15-10) and a 3-0 (25-19,27-25,25-23) win over the visiting Winnipeg Wesmen over the weekend at the Langley Events Centre.
“They were a great opponent again and they really frustrated us,” said Spartan coach Ben Josephson.
“They made us scrap and dig. They played great. I thought our guys grinded for the first two sets enough to get through and our middle attacking was great and that carried the day for us.
Branden Schmidt and Derek Thiessen led the way on Saturday. Schmidt had 10 kills, without a single attacking error, five blocks and five digs, while Thiessen had seven kills and added three blocks.
Lucas Van Berkel had seven kills, six digs and two blocks and Ben Ball had 41 set assists and 11 digs.
“Maybe the secret is out there now but we have some great athletes on our bench. Branden is actually a junior national team left side player and he’s a pretty amazing middle player and he showed that tonight, especially offensively. And Derek has been getting better every weekend. It’s fun to watch him play. He plays with such energy and passion and positivity that it’s good to see him perform as good as his emotion was.”
In Friday's match, Steven Marshall had 20 kills, seven digs and four aces and Brad Kufske had 17 kills and nine digs. Jarrod Offereins had a game-high 15 digs.