Courtesy of Trinity Western Sports Information

Langley, BC – The No. 9 Trinity Western University Spartans gave up a 2-1 lead to the Mount Royal University and lost to the unranked Cougars 3-2 Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in Langley, B.C.

The 25-23, 15-25, 21-25, 25-22, 16-14 loss drops the Spartans to 7-4 in Canada West play, while the win moves the Cougars to 5-6.

 "We made 13 unforced errors in the first set and gave them a 1-0 lead. We probably would have traded sets all night because they are a great team. We spotted them a free one, which neutralized home court advantage and then it is a race to the finish," commented TWU head coach Ben Josephson. "We each won two sets, but the problem is, is that we gave them a set.  They are to good a team to give them a free set. We responded well in the second set. But if you give a team a whole set, you can't expect to beat a great team, with giving them a free one without playing the match of your career. And we didn't."

Errors cost the Spartans in the opening set as the Cougars took advantage for the 25-23 win to start the match. TWU trailed 16-14 at the technical break.

The Spartans were much better in the second set as they jumped out to a 5-0 lead, which they extended to 16-7 at the break, before evening the match with a 25-15 win.

TWU carried the momentum into the third set as they took the 2-1 lead with a solid 25-21 win.

But in the third set the momentum swung back to the Cougars as the tied the match at 2-2 with a 25-22 win.

The final set was a tight contest from start-to-finish. TWU led 8-7 at the change-over and extended the lead to 9-7 after a Carter Bergen (Winnipeg) service ace. Two TWU hitting errors and two service aces from the Cougars Andrew McWilliam quickly gave MRU an 11-9 lead. Mount Royal carried the margin to match point at 14-12.

The Spartans capitalized on a serving error by the Cougars and hard off-hands attack from Ryan Sclater (Port Coquitlam, B.C.) to tie the set at 14-14. But a middle attack from Lucas King and a service ace from Samuel Brisbane ended the set, 16-14, with the Cougars on top to take the match 3-2.

The two teams will match up again Saturday evening at the Langley Events Centre. Match time is set for 7 p.m.