LANGLEY, B.C. – After taking a 2-0 set lead the No. 2 Trinity Western Spartans were able to hold off the Saskatchewan Huskies to earn a 3-1 win Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C. The 25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 25-20 win improves the Spartans to 14-3, while the loss drops the Huskies below .500 at 9-10.
 
Fourth-year outside Kaden Schmidt (Mississauga, Ont.) with 24 kills and five digs, fifth-year middle Cory Schoenherr (Waterloo, Ont.) with nine kills, five blocks, and one aces led the Spartans. TWU third-year libero Tate Calles (Anacortes, Wash.) led the Spartans with nine digs.
 
Fifth-year setter Anselm Rein (Erfurt, Germany) ran the Spartans' attack and finished with 44 set assists to go with five aces, four digs, and four blocks. Noah Opseth led the Huskies attack and finished with 25 assists, 11 digs, and four aces.
 
On the back of three straight Rein service aces the Spartans jumped out to an early 7-1 lead over the Huskies. The Spartans expanded the lead to 14-6 as the Huskies took their second timeout in the set. Saskatchewan rebounded out of the break and took the next five points to cut the deficit to three points, 14-11. The Spartans regained control and expanded their lead back to six points, 20-14. But again, Saskatchewan responded with a 5-1 run to cut the lead to two points, 21-19, for TWU. It was as close as the Huskies would get as Schmidt finished of the set to give TWU the 25-21 first set win. TWU finished the set hitting at .138 (11-7-29), while Saskatchewan hit at .250 (8-3-20). The Spartans finished the set with seven service aces to the Huskies one ace.
 
After exchanging early points, the Spartans went on a 9-2 run to take a 12-5 lead over the Huskies. After a timeout, Saskatchewan cut the TWU lead to four points, trailing 13-9 after a Opseth service ace. The Spartans came back and extended their lead to eight points, 21-13 after a Huskies' attack error. Saskatchewan closed the gap, to 23-19, but TWU was able to take the second set 25-20 after a Huskies' service error, to take a 2-0 set lead. The Spartans improved their hitting in the set to .414 (16-4-29), while the Huskies dropped to .143 (7-4-21).
The third set was evenly played through the early points, as the teams were tied at 12-12 halfway through the set. The Spartans looked like they had gained control of the set with a 4-0 run to take a 20-17 lead after a Huskies' attack error. But Saskatchewan came back with five straight points to lead 22-20, and force TWU to take a timeout. The Spartans were unable to get even as the Huskies took the third set 25-23 after a TWU service error, to force a fourth set trailing 2-1. TWU struggled on the attack in the third set hitting at .161 (11-6-31), while Saskatchewan hit at .120 (8-5-25).
 
The fourth set was again even early. Then with the teams tied at 6-6 TWU took three straight points to lead 9-6, with Saskatchewan taking a timeout. After the break the Huskies were able to tie the set up at 10-10 after a Opseth service ace. TWU again got their lead back to three points, 14-11 after a Schoenherr kill. Then with TWU up 18-15, Saskatchewan went on a 3-0 run to tie the set at 18-18 after a Mamer kill. The Spartans came out of the break with three straight points, highlighted by a second-year middle (North Vancouver, B.C.) service ace, to put TWU up 21-18, with Saskatchewan taking a timeout. The Spartans continued to roll out of the timeout and got to set point, 24-19 after a Schmidt pipe kill. TWU's Schoenherr finished off the match with a middle attack to give the Spartans the set 25-20, and the match 3-1. TWU finished the final set hitting at .444 (15-3-27), while Saskatchewan finished at .217 (9-4-23).  

The Spartans and Huskies will finish the two match series Saturday at 7:00 PM (CST) at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.