NO. 8 SPARTANS HOST NO. 2 PANDAS TO KICK OFF SECOND SEMESTER

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL (CANADA WEST)
THURSDAY, JANUARY 12, 2012
SPARTANS VS PANDAS PREVIEW

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NO. 8 SPARTANS HOST NO. 2 PANDAS TO KICK OFF SECOND SEMESTER

LANGLEY, British Columbia - Trinity Western welcomes the No. 2 University of Alberta Pandas to the David E. this weekend in a battle for a potential hosting spot in the Canada West post season. As the No. 8 Spartans and the Pandas are currently tied for third spot in Canada West. Match times are set for 6 p.m. tonight and 5 p.m. Saturday.

Note: there will not be a video stream available for this weekend's matches. Live Stats are available at Canada West.TV

Trinity Western Spartans (7-3)
Last Weekend: Thompson Rivers 3-1 W, 3-2 L
2012 CIS Rank: 8
2010-2011 CW Record: 15-3, 2nd
2010-2011 CW Tournament: 3-1, 2nd
2010-2011 CIS Tournament: 2-1, 3rd

The Spartans women’s volleyball team returns to the court after a month-long hiatus from Canada West conference play. TWU had one match over the break and on the back of Jan. 6th 3-0 win over Laval University the Spartans have moved up in the CIS rankings and now sit comfortably at No. 8 in the polls.

In the Spartans last conference games, the women took on the Thompson Rivers WolfPack in a pair of games in Kamloops, B.C. On the first night of games, the Spartans took it to a full five sets before falling to the WolfPack.

The two teams traded set wins back and forth, starting with a 25-23 WolfPack victory followed by the 26-24 Spartan response. The Spartans used the momentum to get a 25-22 third set win, but that would be their last victory of the night as they lost the last two sets 25-18 and 16-14.

On the following night the Spartans made an impression with a 3-1 win over the WolfPack. The Spartans won the first, third, and fourth sets with scores of 25-18, 25-20, and 25-15. They gave up one set in the form of a 25-19 WolfPack win.


Alberta Pandas (7-3)
Last Weekend: Tsukuba 3-0 L Regina 3-0 W Calgary 3-0 W
2012 CIS Rank: 2
2010-2011 CW Record: 11-7
2010-2011 CW Tournament: 3-1
2010-2011 CIS Tournament: 1-2, 4th

The Alberta Pandas are no strangers to the Spartans, having lost the CIS Bronze medal match to the Trinity Western team in 2011. This year the Pandas have been a strong team and stand at No. 2 in the CIS rankings. The team has also been active over the break, as they played a few teams at home last weekend.

In the first game of the non-conference weekend the Pandas played their Alberta rivals, the Calgary Dinos. In the battle of Alberta there was a clear winner in the Pandas, as they swept their opponent 3-0. The Pandas ran away with the game on set wins of 25-22, 25-18, and 25-21.

The Pandas then took on the Regina Cougars in Edmonton. The Cougars were quickly overwhelmed by the Alberta Pandas, as the Alberta team swept the game 3-0 (25-22, 27-25, 25-21).

The final game of the weekend was a friendly against a Tsukuba, Japan team. For the first time in the weekend the Pandas wound up on the losing end of a game. The Pandas were unable to win a match, and wound up falling 25-21, 25-16, and 25-19.

The CIS Bronze medal game was the last time that the Spartans and Golden Bears met, which resulted in a 3-1 win and the Bronze medal for the Spartans.