One night after seeing their 15-game winning streak come to an end, the Trinity Western Spartans rallied for a five-set victory.
The Spartans won 3-2 (16-25,25-20,20-25,25-21,15-13) over the UBC Thunderbirds at Vancouver鈥檚 War Memorial Gymnasium in a battle of the country鈥檚 top-two ranked teams.
The T-Birds had won 3-1 (25-22,22-25,25-17,25-19) the night before at the 91原创 Events Centre and heading into the final weekend of Canada West play, the Spartans lead with a 20-2 record, just ahead of UBC鈥檚 19-3 mark.
With the split, the teams maintain their national rankings, with TWU still No. 1.
鈥淎lternating sets like we did I don鈥檛 think you can point to one thing that did or didn鈥檛 work, I bet you both teams were trying 19 different strategies in order and that鈥檚 what we talked to our guys about, this is what playoffs will feel like,鈥� said TWU coach Ben Josephson.
鈥淎djust counter adjust and just play, I bet you we could play 10 sets and we鈥檇 split all 10,鈥� Josephson continued.
鈥淭hey got the better of us last night with their serving and tonight they didn鈥檛 quite serve it as well in the second half of the match which was probably the only difference.鈥�
Josephson also took a moment to credit fans in both venues during the home-and-home series this weekend.
鈥淭onight鈥檚 atmosphere was incredible, congratulations to the fans, I mean we packed out our place last night which is a credit to the opponent and you guys packed it out tonight. These are the two best regular season Canada West crowds that I鈥檝e ever been a part of coaching in, that鈥檚 a final four atmosphere and that鈥檚 what we tell our guys to expect in the playoffs.鈥�
Eric Loeppky led the Spartans with 15 kills while Jackson Howe had four blocks.
The Spartans finished the night with a .315 hitting percentage. By comparison, the team hit just .148 in Friday鈥檚 match.
TWU closes the regular season this weekend with matches in Kamloops against the Thompson Rivers WolfPack.
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