Photo credit Andrew Snucins / Courtesy Thompson Rivers sports information

KAMLOOPS, B.C. (CIS). –They could be the team of destiny. The Trinity Western Spartans seem to get better every time out.  Saturday (Mar 13) in the championship semi final of the 2010 CIS Men’s Volleyball Championship was no different.

Championship website (including complete stats): http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mvball
 
The Spartans, with no fifth year players on their roster upset the number one ranked University of Laval Rouge et Or in five sets. The scores were 25-22,20-25,25-23,23-25,18-20.

The match was one of epic proportions and excitement.  The fifth set saw the teams see-saw before Trinity went on a 3-0 run to move ahead 5-2.  Then, with the score 11-7 for Trinity Western, Laval scored four straight points to move ahead 12-11.  Trinity took the lead and the match for good when Marc Howatson (3rd year, left side, Victoria, BC) came up with a kill to make it 19-18. Player of the Match Rudy Verhoeff (3rd year middle, Victoria, BC) and Ben Ball (3rd year, setter, Abbotsford, BC)  came up with a block to win the match.

Trinity forced a fifth set when in the fourth, down 23-20, Verhoeff stepped into serve and forced Laval to make three attack errors—two of them from 1st team CIS All Canadian Frederic Desbiens (3rd year, La Lalbaie, Que).

“Volleyball, especially playoff volleyball, you don’t expect anything. “said Spartans head coach Ben Josephson. “ That point, we won and then we played the rest a point at a time. Our adage is “pressure busts the pipe”. When a team is under pressure, it is amazing what happens. To their credit, in the fifth they made the plays.  It was two great teams in playoff volleyball.”

The Spartans were led by Steven Marshall (2nd year, left side, Abbotsford, BC).  He had 25 kills and seven digs.  Howatson chipped in with 16 kills and Verhoeff added 11.

Laval was led by Desbiens, who had 22 kills.  Fellow 1st team CIS All-Canadian Karl De Grandpre (3rd year, left side, Pierreville, Que) had 14 kills.  De Grandpre didn’t play for Laval in the quarterfinals.  Jonathan Marcoux (4th year, middle, Gatineau, Que) had 10 kills.

Josephson says everything seems to be falling into place for his Spartans, who will host the CIS championships in 2011.” Every team wants to be playing their best volleyball at the end of the season. They all start beginning and they all want to wind up here. We are one of the two teams that get to play tomorrow (Sun Mar 14) night.  I don’t think it has much to do with coaching style but everything to do with what team worked their tails off all season long.  Our team is making the most of every opportunity .Over the last three or four weeks, we have played great teams and our club has risen to the occasion every time. “

Josephson didn’t think Laval came into the match overconfident but said the fact the two teams had not played against each other before resulted in a ‘feeling out’ process in the early stage of the match.

Trinity Western will now play either the two time defending champion University of Alberta Golden Bears or the University of Calgary Dinos, two fellow Canada West teams in the gold medal match at 6 pm PST.

Laval will play the loser in the bronze medal match at 3 pm PST (Mar 14).
 
STATS LEADERS

Trinity Western
Kills: Steven Marshall (25) Marc Howatson (16), Rudy Verhoeff (11)
Blocks: Rudy Verhoeff (1)
Digs: jarrod Offereins (11), Steven Marshall (7)
Assists:  Ben Ball (63)
 
BlackBerry player of the match: Rudy Verhoeff
 
Montreal
Kills: Frederic Desbiens (22), Karl De Grandpre (14) Jonathan Marcoux (10)
Blocks:  Jonathan Marcoux (2)
Digs: P-Alexis Lapointe (15), Frederic Desbiens (7)
Assists: Justin Boudreault (56)
 
SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times LOCAL: Pacific Time)

Friday, March 12

Quarter-final #1: Laval 3, Montreal 0 (25-20, 25-20,, 25-18)
15:00 Quarter-final #2: Trinity Western 3  Queen’s (25-19,15-23,25-19)
18:00 Quarter-final #3: Alberta 3  Thompson Rivers 1  (25-21,20-25,20-25,22-25)
20:00 Quarter-final #4: Calgary 3  Dalhousie 2  (21-25,24-26,25-20,25-19,16-14)

Saturday, March 13

13:00 Consolation #1: Queen’s 3 Montreal 1 (27-29,22-25,25-16,24-26)
15:00 Consolation #2: Thompson Rivers 3  Dalhousie 0 (25-18,25-15,25-16)
18:00 Semi-final #1: Trinity Western 3  Laval 2   (25-22,20-25,25-23,23-25,18-20)
20:00 Semi-final #2: Alberta vs. Calgary (SSN Canada)

Sunday, March 14

13:00 5th/6th place: Queen’s vs Thompson Rivers (SSN Canada Live Feed)
15:00 Bronze medal Laval vs (SSN Canada)
18:00 Championship final  Trinity Western (SSN Canada)

-CIS-