CIS men's volleyball Thursday roundup: Spartans escape with a five-set win over Brandon

Source: Trinity Western Sports Info / Photo credit TWU Athletics

LANGLEY, B.C. – In what was an emotionally-charged match, the No. 2 Trinity Western men’s volleyball team managed to grind out a win over No. 7 Brandon, knocking off the Bobcats 3-2 (26-24, 25-15, 19-25, 22-25, 15-11) Thursday at the Langley Events Centre.

Playing at the LEC for the first time since the 2011 CIS national championship gold medal match, Brandon (9-4) forced the Spartans (11-2) to play a fifth set for the first time at home all season. But, like the result nearly two years ago, it was TWU coming out on top, this time in five.

The Spartans, who were playing without outside hitter Nick Del Bianco (Surrey, B.C.) and with Jarrod Offereins (Calgary) setting for the first time since early October after missing most of the first semester with an injury, managed to squeak out the win despite giving up a 2-0 advantage.

Trinity Western has now won 26 straight matches, including exhibition and playoffs, at the LEC.k,

The Spartans were led by Steven Marshall (Abbotsford, B.C.), who had 15 kills and three blocks, while Brad Kufske (Abbotsford) had 11 kills, four blocks, three aces and seven digs. Derek Thiessen (Coquitlam, B.C.) finished with a career-high five aces and a career-high 13 digs. His previous high for aces was two against New Brunswick Oct. 20, 2010 while his previous high for digs was eight, which he had against UBC Oct. 27, 2012. Offereins finished with 41 assists and five blocks. Lucas Van Berkel (Edmonton) had a match-high nine blocks. Libero Tyler Koslowsky (Abbotsford) had a match-high 15 digs.

The Bobcats were led by Sam Tuivai (Auckland, New Zealand), who had 16 kills to go with six digs and two blocks. Roy Ching (Nelson, New Zealand) added 12 kills, six digs and three blocks while setter Garrett Popplestone (Brandon, Man.) had 43 assists and 13 digs. Libero Scott Neufeld (Brandon) had 14 digs.

“We just made a couple plays at the end,” said Spartans coach Ben Josephson. “They made a couple of errors and we made a couple blocks and that was the fifth set. It could have gone either way.

“The fact Tuivai didn’t put up 25 kills is good and that’s probably why we won. Credit to our guys for slowing him down, but you never stop great players like him and their setter was clever and he knew what we were up to so he mixed the ball around well.

“Thiessen had a great serving night and he made their coach burn a lot of timeouts, which is great. However, I would expect our passers to be better next time. That’s not up to what we need, especially with the talent of our middles. We need to be in system more. Defensively we were solid, not special, but solid. Blocking, other than some blown assignments, we were solid.”

The first set was a high-flying back-and-forth affair that looked primed to go beyond 25 points from the outset. With neither team earning anything more than a two-point lead, momentum swung from side to side throughout the entire set.

Just before the technical timeout, the Spartans finally looked to have taken some momentum as they earned a 15-13 edge. But Brandon stole the advantage right back with four straight points to earn a 17-15 lead. Climbing back, the Spartans eventually managed to grab a 24-22 lead. But Brandon again responded with two straight points to tie it 24-24. However, that’s when Van Berkel stepped up. The Spartans middle stuffed the Bobcats on back-to-back attacks to earn TWU a 26-24 win.

The second set was a different story. The Spartans went ahead 10-6 and they never trailed the rest of the way. With TWU’s Thiessen serving, the Spartans opened its biggest lead of the set to that point at 22-12. The teams traded points down the stretch as TWU finished the set ahead 25-15.

In the third set, the Bobcats turned the match back in their favour. After a Popplestone block followed by a Tuivai ace, the Bobcats went up 11-6 and it looked like the set might be all Brandon. But the Spartans responded and eventually took a 15-14 lead. However from there, Brandon earned the win. The Bobcats went on a 7-1 run to take a 21-16 lead. Continuing its push, Brandon extended its lead down the stretch and with a kill from Tuivai, the Bobcats sent the match to a fourth set.

Much like the first set, the fourth was back and forth the entire way. After Brandon took a 19-16 lead, the Spartans roared back with five straight points, capped by a block from Marshall that gave TWU a two-point edge, 21-19. The ever-resilient Bobcats came right back and, after making it 22-22, scored three straight points to take the win, 25-22. A Tuivai kill gave Brandon the 24-22 edge and then a Spartans attacking error ended the set.

In the fifth, TWU took a 6-3 lead after a yellow card was issued Brandon coach Grant Wilson and from there, the Bobcats never got closer than two points. An ace by Van Berkel gave TWU a 10-6 and, while the Bobcats got back to within two, at 10-8 after a block from Craig Lowe (Acova Beacah, Australia), they couldn’t swing momentum entirely their way. A kill from Branden Schmidt (De Winton, Alta.) immediately after he had been subbed on gave TWU a 14-9 lead and eventually a Brandon serving error gave the Spartans the win.

“It was definitely a grind,” Offereins said. “At some points I thought we were pretty good. Our block came alive at the end, which allowed us to stay in the game and our hitters bailed me out a lot so we could stay in the game.

“They played well and we’re lucky to come out with a win.”

The two teams will meet in a rematch Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Langley Events Centre.

Game Notes: TWU finished with 15.5 blocks to Brandon’s 7…TWU had a 9-7 edge in aces…TWU hit .213 while Brandon hit .137.