MEN’S VOLLEYBALL SEEKS TO WIN NATIONAL TITLE ON HOME COURT
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MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011
CIS NATIONALS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL LOOK FOR TO WIN NATIONAL TITLE ON HOME COURT
LANGLEY, British Columbia – For the second year in the row and sixth time in the last eight years, Trinity Western will compete at the men’s volleyball CIS national championship and, after losing to Calgary in last year’s gold medal game, the Spartans will be looking to complete some unfinished business by winning gold for the first time since 2006.
The No. 4 seeded Spartans will open the national tournament with a quarter-final matchup against No. 5 seeded Alberta at 6:00 p.m. PST at the Langley Events Centre.
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SPARTANS PREVIEW
Head Coach: Ben Josephson (4th season)
Regular season record: 13-5
Regular season standing: 3rd Canada West
Playoff record: 3-1
Playoff finish: Canada West bronze medallists
Final Top 10 ranking (Feb. 15): No. 4
Best Top 10 ranking (13 weeks): No. 3 (6 weeks: polls 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9)
Number of weeks in Top 10 (13 weeks): 13
Conference award winners: Rudy Verhoeff (student-athlete – community service)
Conference 1st team all-stars: Rudy Verhoeff (OH)
Conference 2nd team all-stars: Ben Ball (S)
CIS championship best result: 1-time champions (2006)
CIS championship last appearance: 2010 (finalists)
CIS championship sequence: 2nd consecutive appearance (6th in 8 years)
As hosts, the Spartans will also be hoping to do what only Alberta has done in the past 21 years: win a CIS championship on home court. The Golden Bears accomplished the feat in 2002 and 2009.
Trinity Western will be seeking its sixth CIS medal as they have won at least a bronze in each of their previous five national tournament appearances.
Although Trinity Western had a spot in nationals all year as the host team, the Spartans did well to qualify on their own and in the process won a Canada West bronze medal with a four-set win over Alberta in the Final Four. The Spartans finished third in Canada West with a 13-5 regular season record and played Thompson Rivers in the first round. Trinity Western dispatched TRU in six straight sets, earning a spot in the Final Four against Calgary. In a five-set battle, the Dinos downed the Spartans which sent TWU into the bronze medal game against Alberta.
After being the only team to beat the Golden Bears in the regular season, TWU did the deed a second time, knocking off Alberta in four sets.
Spartans coach Ben Josephson, who was an assistant coach with TWU when they won gold in 2006, silver in 2005 and bronze in 2007, will look to guide a team to a national title for the first time as the head coach. Last year was his first go-round at the national tournament and his team surprised many by knocking off No. 1 Laval in the semifinal before finishing with a silver medal.
After last year when TWU was arguably the best passing team in the country, given their differing personal this year with injuries and departed players, the Spartans game changed this year to a serving and blocking style.
Trinity Western led the conference in blocks, with 3.35 per set, and service aces, with 1.43 per set, and was tied for first in Canada West in opponent hitting percentage at 18.3 per cent. The Spartans had three players in the CW top 10 in blocking (Lucas Van Berkel, Dan Jansen Van Doorn and Rudy Verhoeff) and were also in the top five in every statistical category. Trinity Western was fourth in hitting percentage (26.1 per cent), fourth in kills (12.69 per set), fourth in assists (11.94 per set) and fifth in digs (9.82 per set).
The Spartans have been led all year by Verhoeff, who is a Canada West First Team All-Star and is the Canada West nominee for the Dale Iwanoczko Award as top student-athlete. Verhoeff was fourth in CW in kills with 3.91 per set and 10th in blocks with 1.04 per set. Spartans second-year middle Lucas Van Berkel finished with a Canada West all-time record for blocks per set, with 1.60 per set, while also leading the team in attacking percentage at 35.1 per cent (5th in CW) and service aces, with 0.26 per set (5th in CW). Setter Ben Ball, who is a Canada West Second Team All-Star, was second in the conference with 10.91 assists per set while libero Jarrod Offereins was fourth in CW with 2.38 digs per set.
Trinity Western also had key contributions this year from Josh Doornenbal,(3.63 kills per set, 2nd on the team), Mikiah Schalk (1.56 kills per set, 3rd on the team), Marc Howatson, who returned in January after a serious leg injury (1.95 digs per set, 2nd on the team), first year Nick Del Bianco (1.53 kills per set, 4th on the team) and Dan Jansen Van Doorn (1.18 blocks per set, 2nd on the team).
The Spartans previously competed at nationals in 2004 (3rd), 2005 (2nd), 2006 (1st), 2007 (3rd) and 2010 (2nd). Before this year the Spartans had never beaten Alberta twice in one year within regular season or playoff action. And now, having drawn them in the quarter-finals, they’ll have to beat them for a third time this year if they hope to claim gold in Langley.
-TW-
Last Updated: 2011-03-02
Email: Mark.Janzen@twu.ca