Scheduled Game: ALBERTA*

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GAME RESULTS 1 2 3 4 T Alberta 25 20 25 25 3 « FINAL Trinity Western 19 25 21 21 1

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Game Recap

MENS VOLLEYBALL (CANADA WEST)
FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2010
TWU SPARTANS (1) VS THE UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA GOLDEN BEARS (3)
(19-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-20)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NO. 4 BEARS WIN BATTLE OVER NO. 6 SPARTANS

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The fourth ranked University of Alberta Golden Bears controlled the points late in each set as the dropped the sixth ranked Trinity Western University Spartans 3-1 to open the weekend series Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The win moves the Golden Bears to 8-3, while the loss drops the Spartans to 6-3.

“They raised their level of play at the end of the sets and we didn’t. They are a veteran team and there resolve is tighter. But we forgot what got us to 18 points and stopped playing. If you are going to win you need to be the team that makes plays after 20. Even in the second set we were not the better team after 18 points, we had just built enough of a lead to hold on,” commented TWU head coach Ben Josephson. “Alberta never ceases to surprise me on how great a defence team they are. We served well but they out defended us and out blocked us. But even with that I felt that ever single set was in our grasp if we just made plays down the stretch. But we didn’t and they did and that is the difference between a team that has been there, done that and a team that is trying to get there.”

The first set had the look of two heavy weight fighter feeling each other out as Alberta prevailed 25-19. Alberta led 8-4 and 16-14 at the two breaks.

The Spartans came back energized in the second set and evened up the match at 1-1 with a 25-20 win. TWU controlled the second set from the start leading 8-4 and 16-10 at the breaks and were able to hold off a late charge by Alberta to take the set.

The pattern was similar in each of the final two sets. The two teams were close till late in the set, when the Bears took over. In the third set Alberta led 8-5 at the break before TWU responded to trail 16-15 at the second break. But the Bears controlled the final points to take the set 25-21 scores.

The Spartans were strong to start the fourth set and led 8-5 at the first time-out, but the Golden Bears regrouped to lead 16-15 at the second break. Alberta would close out the match with a 9-5 run to take the final set 25-21.

The two teams will match up again tomorrow night. Match time at the LEC is set for 7 p.m.

The match was streamed live on TWU’s SpartanTV at gospartans.ca.

-TW-

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