Canada’s top-ranked university women’s volleyball team has capped a perfect weekend on the road.
The Trinity Western University Spartans captured their second straight three-set win (25-19, 25-22, 27-25) over host Regina Saturday at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
The Spartans were forced to rally from deficits in both the second and third sets, but with Elly Wendel and Sophie Carpentier leading the way on the outside and Katie Devaney controlling the middle, TWU managed to earn comeback wins, leaving Regina having played the minimum.
Wendel finished with 16 kills while Carpentier had 12 and Devaney had eight to go along with eight blocks.
Setter Nikki Cornwall had 37 assists and 11 digs.
Regina had three players, Ashlee Sandiford, Kathleen Bruce and Haley Wagar, who had seven kills each.
As a team, TWU hit .218 compared to Regina, who hit .099. TWU had a 12-5 edge in blocks.
“Tonight was a closer night,” Spartans coach Ryan Hofer said, after the win. “It was more of a battle and my team was forced under pressure to really fight back and work hard to get a few comeback wins. Sophie, Elly and Katie did a good job under pressure of putting the ball away. Nikki delivered the ball well. We also had a couple of girls in the backcourt, who really passed the ball well. Brie [O’Reilly] and Rachel (Flink] are doing a really nice job for us. We had some good serving runs from Ashtyn [McKenzie] to keep us in this match and get a lead. It was a good team effort from the floor and the sidelines and it’s good to come home with two wins.:
TWU took an early lead in the first set and was in control throughout, hitting .308 and rolling to a six-point win.
In the second set, Regina held a three-point lead at 21-18. But TWU responded with a 4-0 run that gave the Spartans the lead.
After the Cougars tied it back up 22-22, the Spartans tallied the last three points to take the set.
The Cougars were similarly up throughout much of the third set and possessed a 23-20 lead. However, once again, TWU scored four consecutive points to take a 24-23 lead.
The teams went back and forth until the Spartans finally sealed the win with a block from Devaney and Carpentier.
The Spartans return to Langley for their home-opening weekend when they host Calgary this Friday and Saturday (Nov. 4-5).
Wendel finished the weekend with a team-high 27 kills over six sets for an average of 4.5 per set. Devaney had 15 blocks over the two-match weekend series for an average of three per set.