SPARTANS HOST WESMEN; WINNER TO ADVANCE TO FINAL FOUR

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL (CANADA WEST PLAYOFFS)
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2010
PLAY-OFF PREVIEW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SPARTANS HOST WESMEN; WINNER TO ADVANCE TO FINAL FOUR

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The No. 7 Trinity Western University men’s volleyball team will open up the Canada West play-offs with the visiting No. 6 University of Winnipeg Wesmen this Thurs. Feb. 25 at the Langley Events Centre with the best of three quarter final match-up.

The two teams, who both finished at 11-7, met earlier this year, Jan. 22-23, in Winnipeg. If the results from a month ago are any indication of what is in store this week at the LEC, expect a highly contested series that could go five sets each night and will most likely go to the third night.

In the January series the Wesmen came out of the weekend with two tightly contested battles winning 3-2 on both nights. On the Friday Winnipeg prevailed 25-18, 19-25, 25-21, 19-25 and 15-12 and on Saturday the home team won 25-23, 20-25, 16-25, 25-14 and 15-13. On the weekend the Wesmen held a 204 to 201 edge in total points scored, outscoring TWU 103-101 on Fri. and 101-100 on Sat.

 In the series the Spartans were led by leftside Steve Marshall of Abbotsford, B.C. with 28 kills, 15 digs and three aces, middle Rudy Verhoef of Calgary with 22 kills, six blocks and four aces and setter Ben Ball of Abbotsford, B.C. with 93 set assists, 14 digs, six aces, five kills and three blocks. The Wesmen had strong performances from middle Justin Duff of Winnipeg with 35 kills, seven digs and five blocks, outside Andre Town of Winnipeg with 24 kills, 18 digs and two aces and setter Dan Lother of Winnipeg with 85 set assists, 17 digs, six kills and three aces.

The Wesmen are in the middle of the Canada West pack in a variety of statistical categories. They are fourth in kills at 12.61 kills per game, sixth in hitting at 23.6 percent, service at .93 aces per game and digs with 9.7 digs per game and eighth in blocks with 1.83 blocks per game. Winnipeg’s lone top statistic is in set assists where they lead Canada West with 12.06 set assists per game. The Spartans on the other side of the net are in the top of Canada West in nearly every statistical category. TWU is first in kills with 12.85 kills per game and digs with 11.36 digs per game, third in hitting at 25.9 percent and assists at 11.88 assists per game and fifth in blocks with 2.29 blocks per game and service aces with 0.95 aces per game.

Over Canada West conference play the Spartans were led by Steve Marshall who was fourth in kills at 3.69 per game, seventh in digs with 2.26 digs per game and eighth in aces with 0.25 aces per game. Josh Doornenbal who was sixth in hitting at 39.2 percent, fifth in blocks with 1.08 blocks per game, leftside Marc Howatson of Victoria who was 10th in digs with 1.97 digs per game, while hitting 2.63 kills per game, Ben Ball who was second in assists with 10.37 per game and libero Jarrod Offereins of Calgary who was sixth in digs with 2.29 digs per game. While the Wesmen were led by Justin Duff who was second in hitting at 44.8 percent and fifth in kills at 3.43 kills per game, Andrew Town who finished with 3.09 kills per game and 1.81 digs per game and Dan Lother who was third in assists with 10.33 assists per game.

The last time the two teams met in the play-offs was Feb. 15 and 16 in 2008 when the Wesmen swept the Spartans in the best of three series 3-0, 3-0 in Winnipeg. The overall CIS record between the two programs favours the Spartans, with Trinity Western winning 16 matches while losing 11 matches.

The best of three series will run Thurs. Feb. 25, Fri. Feb. 26 and Sat. Feb. 27 if necessary. All matches are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. PST at the LEC.

-TW-

Last Updated: 2010-02-23
Author: Scott Stewart
Email: ssstew@twu.ca