Photo credit Scott Stewart / Courtesy: TWU sports information
 
LANGLEY, B.C. (CIS) – The tournament host and fourth-seeded Trinity Western University Spartans captured the second CIS men’s volleyball title in school history with a straight-set gold medal win (25-12, 25-22, 27-25) over the No. 3 Brandon Bobcats, Sunday evening, at the Langley Events Centre.

Championship website (including complete stats): http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mvball

The Spartans, who waited all year to avenge a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to Calgary in the 2010 title match in Kamloops, B.C., had claimed their lone previous Tantramar Trophy in 2006 in Hamilton with a three-set sweep of Alberta.

Trinity Western, which has now reached the podium in each of its six appearances at the national tourney (2 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze), became only the sixth team to triumph on home court since the inaugural CIS championship in 1967, following in the footsteps of Alberta in 2009 and 2002, Calgary in 1989, Winnipeg in 1987 and UBC in 1983.

The TWU-Brandon duel marked the ninth all-Canada West national final in the last 10 years. Canada West teams have now won the last 17 Tantramar Trophies since a Laval victory in 1994.

Brandon was making its first appearance in the title game in only its second all-time trip to the CIS championship. The Bobcats won bronze in 2009.

Fourth-year middle Rudy Verhoeff was named Trinity Western player of the match and tournament MVP after he racked up a game-high 11 kills. The Calgary native had been selected to the second all-Canadian team for the 2010-11 season prior to the competition.

Josh Doornenbal chipped in with 10 kills and eight blocks. Marc Howatson led the way on defence with 12 digs, while Ben Ball tallied 28 assists.

“We served the ball well,” said TWU head coach Ben Josephson. “We got the ball off the net enough times for our block to get a handle on some of their players. I thought our defence scrambled well enough to give our block another chance. Rudy [Verhoeff] was real good. Our middles were good. I just feel like our overall system execution was tight and it allowed us to score a lot of points.”

“The start was somewhat predictable. We knew they’d come out flying with the home crowd and we would need to weather that. To some extent we did,” said Brandon coach Russ Paddock “We came back and battle hard in the second and third set and probably deserved to win one of those two sets. We were battling the ball all night from the service line and in serve receive and made it really tough on our hitters. We kept fighting but it wasn’t enough.”

With a louder than ever crowd backing them, the Spartans were absolutely dominant in the opening set. They pulled out to an 8-4 lead by the first technical timeout and from there, it was a landslide.

The Spartans hit 20.0 per cent while Brandon was a remarkable -30.3 per cent in the stanza and Trinity Western took full advantage.

After a Dan Jansen Van Doorn service error got Brandon to within four points at 15-11, the Spartans, working the block to near perfection, went on a 9-0 run to set up a fitting finish to the set when Brandon’s Brettarrod Young had an attack error.

Brandon finished the first set with five kills and 15 errors on 33 attacks, while Trinity Western had six kills and two errors on 20 attacks.

In the second set, Brandon got off to a better start, taking a 3-2 lead. But the Spartans countered with five of the next six points and once again took momentum. Trinity Western built its advantage to as big as seven points (14-7) after a block from Ben Ball, forcing Brandon to take a timeout.

But after the break, Brandon reeled the Spartans right back in.

The Bobcats went on a 9-2 run, capped by a pair of aces from Brendan White, to tie it 16-16. And then it was back and forth until it was tied 21-21.

Then the Spartans went on a 5-1 run to end the set with the winning point coming on a kill from Verhoeff who pounded it off a Brandon block and watched the ball fall to the floor out of bounds.

In the third set, the Spartans raced out to an 8-4 lead as they went into the first technical timeout emotionally charged after a block from Marc Howatson and Lucas Van Berkel got Trinity Western’s its eighth point.

After the break though, Brandon got back in the match. In a big way.

With the score 10-7 for Trinity Western, the Bobcats went on an 8-1 run, with Sanderson contributing two kills on the way, to make 15-11 for visiting Brandon.

But the momentum soon swung back to TWU.

The Spartans worked to get it to within one point at 16-15, 20-19, 23-22 but Brandon looked about to win it at both 24-23 and 25-24. 

The Spartans wouldn’t let it happen however. And with the score 26-25 for TWU, twice staving off set point, a three-man block of Jansen Van Doorn, Josh Doornenbal and Ball send the Langley Events Centre off its rocker.

GAME NOTES: Rounding out the tournament all-star team were Trinity Western’s Ben Ball, Brandon teammates Kevin Miller and Paul Sanderson, CIS player of the year Graham Vigrass of Calgary, Alberta’s Jay Olmstead, as well as Laval’s Karl De Grandpré... The R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award went to the Sherbrooke Vert & Or... The Spartans, who had settled for bronze at the Canada West Final Four last weekend in Edmonton, advanced to the CIS final thanks to a pair of dramatic five-set wins over conference rivals Alberta in Friday’s quarter-final round and Calgary in Saturday’s semis... Queen’s University will host the 2012 CIS men’s volleyball championship in Kingston, Ontario...

STAT LEADERS

Trinity Western
Kills: Rudy Verhoeff (11), Josh Doornenbal (10), Lucas Van Berkel (4)
Points: Josh Doornenbal (15)
Blocks: Josh Doornenbal (8), Dan Jansen Van Doorn (8), Lucas Van Berkel (8)
Digs: Marc Howatson (12)
Service aces: Josh Doornenbal (1)
Assists: Ben Ball (28)

Player of the match: Rudy Verhoeff
 
Brandon
Kills: Kevin Miller (10), Paul Sanderson (9), Dan Boutwell (5)
Points: Kevin Miller (13), Paul Sanderson (9.5)
Blocks: Brendan White (5)
Digs: Kevin Miller (8)
Service aces: Brendan White (2)
Assists: Kyle Dellezay (23)
 
Player of the match: Brendan White

CHAMPIONSHIP ALL-STARS

Tournament MVP: Rudy Verhoeff

R.W. Pugh Fair Play Award: Sherbrooke Vert & Or

Tournament All-Stars:
Jay Olmstead, Alberta
Karl De Grandpré, Laval
Graham Vigrass, Calgary
Kevin Miller, Brandon
Paul Sanderson, Brandon
Ben Ball, Trinity Western
Rudy Verhoeff, Trinity Western

SCHEDULE & RESULTS (all times LOCAL: Pacific Time)

Friday, March 4

Quarter-final #1: Laval 3, UNB 0 (25-18, 25-14, 27-25)
Quarter-final #2: Brandon 3, McMaster 1 (25-15, 25-19, 21-25, 25-15)
Quarter-final #3: Trinity Western 3, Alberta 2 (25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-11)
Quarter-final #4: Calgary 3, Sherbrooke 0 (25-12, 26-24, 25-18)

Saturday, March 5

Consolation #1: McMaster 3, UNB 1(25-22, 23-25, 25-16, 25-16) 
Consolation #2: Alberta 3, Sherbrooke 0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-9) 
Semi-final #1: Brandon 3, Laval 0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-23)
Semi-final #2: Trinity Western 3, Calgary 2 (25-17, 18-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-9)

Sunday, March 6

5th place: Alberta 3, McMaster 1 (25-22, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18)
Bronze medal: Calgary 3, Laval 2 (20-25, 25-22, 19-25, 27-25, 18-16)
Championship final: Trinity Western 3, Brandon 0 (25-12, 25-22, 27-25)

-CIS-