Playoff bound

Posted by admin on Feb 6, 2008 in Sports | 0 comments

The Spartans Men’s Volleyball team was at home over the weekend and split two games with the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds. After suffering a tough 3-2 loss to the night earlier, the Spartans bounced back with a 3-2 win of their own. With the victory, the Spartans clinched the 2008 playoffs, and can now finish no worse than seventh place.

After the Spartans dropped the first set 25-19, TWU responded with a 25-20 win in the second. Rookie Paul Lindemulder and Steve Rogalsky of TWU were both solid in the second, coming up with four kills apiece. The Thunderbirds would answer back in a very close third set however, defeating the Spartans 25-22. UBC would carry that momentum into the fourth set, leading 11-9 at one point. The Spartans battled back to put them up 14-11, but a costly service error put the Thunderbirds just a single point behind (18-17). From then on, it was pretty much all TWU, as the Spartans closed out the fourth as victors in a 25-18 set. In the fifth and final set of the evening, TWU sprung themselves to a 5-2 lead. The Spartans would build on the lead and were up 14-11 before UBC rallied to tie it all up at 14. That was all the T-birds could muster however, as a kill by TWU’s Doug Van Spronsen paired with a huge Spartans double block won the game for Trinity.

“Getting a split against the third ranked team in the country is big for our group,” said TWU head coach Ben Josephson. “Tonight was our third straight five set match and we saw just about every possible scenario that could happen, and it’s been great experience for our group to go through.”

Saturday evening’s victory gives the Spartans an 8-8 record, which is good for fourth place in the Canada West standings. The Spartans close out the 2007-2008 regular season on the road next weekend when they visit the University of Alberta. The Canada West playoffs are set to being on February 14th, with the final four scheduled for February 22nd.