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This past weekend the Spartans took on the UBC Thunderbirds in Trinity Western’s volleyball home opener with mixed resultst.

On the women’s side Friday, the first game started off a bit slow with the Spartans struggling to keep up with UBC, losing the first set 25-17. The girls came back stronger in the second set with hard spikes from Kara Jansen Van Doorn as the team tried to maintain their composure. Lindsay Dykman, middle, said that the team was over-thinking it. “We were trying so hard to win that there was no flow.” The end result was a win for UBC 25-21. In the third game as the Spartan Faithful chanted the Spartan theme song, blew loud whistles and banged on empty garbage cans, but to no avail as the women’s squad fell a final time 25-15 for a UBC sweep.

On Saturday night, the women’s team pushed the Thunderbirds to a fifth set, but were denied a victory as UBC eventually downed the girls three games to two.

The mayor of Langley, Peter Fassbender, was at the game to say a few words and to wish each team good luck.

The Dean of the School of Human Kinetics, Blair Whitmarsh, was also there to say a few words about Trinity’s volleyball past. “In 91/92, both our women and men’s Volleyball teams won the Gold at the BCAA’s,” said Whitmarsh.
“Those teams layed the foundation for future teams and we want to recognize this years women’s and men’s teams for being a part of Trinity Westerns volleyball history.”

The Spartans marching band also pumped up fans and players before the men’s game.

On the men’s side, TWU started their match Friday against UBC off strong. The Spartans came out hitting the ball hard, but made numerous errors with their attacks, giving UBC free points.

UBC also had a strong blocking wall that allowed them to take the first game, 25-21. In the second game, the Spartans stepped it up a notch and were staying close on the Thunderbirds’ tail where they eventually sweated out a hard fought second set, taking the game 25-23.

Mikiah Schalk was critical in the game, being asked to come off the bench many times too use his powerful serve, helping the Spartans pull of their third set 25-22. However, the Thunderbirds didn’t go away easily, as they came back in the fourth set to send the game into the fifth and deciding set.

Before the fifth set began, lots of tension filled both the court and the stands, as the Spartan faithful held their breath. The crowd was going wild at every point the Spartans won. Sturdy blocks by Rudy Verhoeff and power hits by Marc Howatson helped the Spartans dominate in the final set, ultimately winning the 15-9 to take the match 3-2.

The men’s team also took the second game on Saturday night in four sets to sweep the weekend set with the T-Birds, starting the boys’ season at 2-0 while dropping UBC to 1-3 on the year.

Both the men’s team and women’s team are off this weekend before returning to the LEC on Nov. 13 and 14 when they host Brandon.