WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL - FIRST HALF REVIEW

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2010
FALL REVIEW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL - FIRST HALF REVIEW

LANGLEY, British Columbia - The first half the No. 2 ranked Trinity Western Spartans season was almost perfect. If not for a straight sets loss to now No. 7 ranked Alberta in the second leg of a road series in mid-November, TWU could have been a perfect 10-0 going into the break.

But alas, a 9-1 record is still pretty impressive and marks the first time a TWU women’s volleyball team has garnered nine Canada West wins in the fall semester.

“I thought we had a solid first semester,” said coach Ryan Hofer. “We really invested a lot of time into reducing errors from happening especially in the serving and attacking portions of our game. And that has really paid off dividends in the results we achieved. We’re still working through some things in terms of our serve receive and our blocking but overall it’s hard to complain about a 9-1 record.”

Trinity Western opened the year on the road against the three-time defending CIS champion UBC Thunderbirds and a team that was riding a 40-game winning streak. But the Spartans went into the War Memorial Gymnasium in Point Grey and not only snapped UBC’s winning streak Friday night but completed the weekend sweep with a second victory Saturday night.

The Spartans then won five more games to improve their record to 7-0 before falling to Alberta. But the very next weekend, TWU came home and swept Winnipeg to go into what will be a nearly two-month break on a positive note.

So far this year, the key to the Spartans success has been their ability to limit their own errors while shutting down the opposition’s attack. The Spartans have only allowed their opponents to hit, on average, a Canada West leading 10.6 per cent. To go along with this, TWU is third in blocks per set (2.50 per set) and fifth in digs per set (13.45 per set).

While the defence has been solid, on a team that is 9-1, not surprisingly, the Spartans have been pretty good offensively as well. Trinity Western is third in CW in hitting percentage at 22.6 per cent and averaging 11.6 kills per set, which is seventh in CW.

Fifth-year veteran Kara Jansen Van Doorn is leading the offence as she’s second in CW with 3.67 kills per game and ninth in the conference in hitting percentage (27.5 per cent). Fellow fifth-year Andrea Ball is having a career year as she’s leading CW with 4.00 digs per set.

Rookie Alicia Perrin has been leading the blocking brigade for TWU as she’s averaging 1.38 blocks per set (2nd in CW) while setter Chelsea Hudson is fourth in CW with 9.65 assists per set.

SECOND HALF PREVIEW

The second half of the Spartans season will be a tough eight-game stretch that will bring out TWU’s true colours. The Spartans play the three of the four teams directly below them in the CW standings in No. 8 ranked Calgary (Jan. 21-22 at home), No. 5 ranked Brandon (Feb. 4-5 on the road) and No. 4 ranked Manitoba (Feb. 11-12 at home). In between this gauntlet, TWU also plays at Saskatchewan Jan. 28-29. Of note, the Spartans will return last year’s starting setter Lauren O’Reilly after she was unavailable for the fall semester because she was playing with Team Canada at the World Championship.

-TW-

Last Updated: 2010-12-17
Author: Mark Janzen
Email: Mark.Janzen@twu.ca