Box Score
Scheduled Game: UC-Irvine@CanAM Challenge - Edmonton
Game Recap
Game Recap
Men's Volleyball (Can-Am Challenge)
Friday, October 12, 2007 - GAME 2
TWU Spartans (1) vs. UC-Irvine Anteaters (3)
(25-23, 25-23, 16-25, 25-22)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SPARTANS FALL TO 0-2 AT CAN-AM
-TWU takes a set but drops match to Anteaters.
EDMONTON - The UC-Irvine Anteaters outlasted the Trinity Western Spartans in a four set match, 25-23, 25-23, 16-25 and 25-22 in the U of A's Main Gym at the 12th Annual Husky Energy Can-Am Challenge.
"Tonight we were a little over activated. We were just trying to hard to kill everything, make serve aces and make perfect passes on every ball. Our errors were made out of being over aggressive," said TWU Head Coach Ben Josephson. "We started to get things going in the third set. We found our rhythm and were able to make some scoring runs. We were in the fourth all the way but we made an error and they got a timely ace to close us out in the match."
The Spartans are now 0-2, while UC-Irvine is 2-0 as the NCAA leads the Can-Am 5-2 going into Friday night's main match-up (8:00 PM MST) between the Pepperdine Waves and the Alberta Golden Bears.
It took the Trinity Western Spartans five sets before they recorded their first set win, but it was not enough as they started in a two set hole against the defending NCAA champions. TWU, who claimed a bronze last season at the CIS championship, lost their opening match in straight sets to the powerful George Mason Patriots, while UC-Irvine got a five set victory over the McMaster Marauders.
The Anteaters got a solid nights work from Jordan DuFault and Alex Da Pron who recorded 13 and 10 kills respectively, while setter Anthony Spittle handed out 41 assists and seven digs.
Doug Van Spronsen's (Dawson Creek, B.C.) return to the line-up and fine form couldn't have come at a better time as the fifth year middle put down a team high 12 kills in the loss. Leftside hitter Mikiah Schalk (2nd year, Red Deer, Alta.) banked four kills, two digs, three block assists and two very hard service aces.
Next up for the Spartans is the USC Trojans in Saturday morning's 10 a.m. match in the University of Alberta Pavilion.
-TW-