LANGLEY, B.C. – The University of Calgary Dinos head into the December break after returning home following a three-set loss to the No. 1-ranked Trinity Western Spartans (25-13, 27-25, 25-14) Saturday night.
With the win, TWU enters the Christmas break with a 9-1 record, while Calgary drops to 3-7 on the season.
Coming off a straight sets win over Calgary Friday, the Spartans used an impressive second set rally – TWU trailed 13-5 before coming back to win – to ensure the home side would earn with a win in the minimum.
Jacob Kern and Eric Loeppky had 10 kills each for TWU, with Loeppky committing just one attacking error (.500) and Kern having only three errors (.333).
Derek Epp had 28 assists and a match-high nine digs. Both Jackson Howe and Pearson Eshenko had five blocks each.
Tim Taylor had a team-high eight kills for Calgary, while
Blain Cranston had 20 assists.
The Spartans had a 10-3 edge in blocks and an 8-2 advantage in aces.
It was all TWU in the first set, taking a 16-9 lead at the technical timeout before carrying on for a 12-point win. With Calgary committing 13 attacking errors and TWU picking up six blocks in the set, the Spartans needed just eight kills to earn the set. Loeppky had a team-leading three kills, while Howe had five blocks. No Dino had more than two kills and Calgary was held without a block.
In the second set, Calgary built a 13-5 lead only to see TWU claw all the way back to take an 18-17 lead. After that, the teams went back and forth until 25-25, when kills from Ben Lieuwen and Eshenko sealed the set for TWU.
TWU finished the set with 17 kills and hit .343, while Calgary had 12 kills and hit .233. After swinging into the Spartans block through the first set, the Dinos made just five attacking errors in the second set and TWU had just one block to Calgary's two.
A quick 6-2 Spartans lead in the third set forced Calgary into an early timeout. Unfortunately for the visitors, the break did little to slow the TWU attack, as the Spartans pulled away to win the set 25-14. TWU hit .458 in the set, while Calgary hit .056.
Calgary returns to action Jan. 4-5 when they face the UBC Okanagan Heat in Kelowna, B.C.
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