Spartans dominant in sweeps of Bobcats

The Brandon University Bobcats needed a clean, efficient game to have a chance at a weekend split with the Trinity Western Spartans.

They got the polar opposite.

BU (5-9) posted 27 kills and 26 errors for a .011 hitting percentage while TWU (12-2) recorded 34 and nine for .298, naturally sweeping their Canada West men’s volleyball match 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-18) at the Healthy Living Centre on Saturday.

Kaden Schmidt had 10 kills and two errors for TWU, while Liam Pauls and Tom Friesen had 10 apiece for Brandon, but committed five and nine errors, respectively.

The Bobcats handed the Spartans a giant lead, making six attacking errors as the visitors led 10-4.

Matthew Siebenga made three straight blocks to bring BU back to 13-11, but TWU setter Anselm Rein spread the ball around well after that, keeping the Bobcat blocks from doing anything else.

A night after Kaden Schmidt went for 26 kills, it was Willem Van Huizen with four, Kyden Dmitruk with two and the middles combining for three more.

The Bobcats finished the set with seven kills and eight errors — Rein finished it with a massive cross-court attack to lead 1-0.

The second set stayed within two points up to 13-13, when the Spartans scored a few points, and Schmidt aced Pauls to go up 16-13. Brandon answered with a block-filled three-point run.

The teams traded points up to 20-20, but then Brandon committed three straight attacking errors, then Schmidt scored to bring up set point.

Rein stuffed Tom Friesen to pull ahead 2-0.

Once again, the Bobcats made three early errors in the third set to let the Spartans take a comfortable lead.

The trend continued as Trinity Western, which already had seven blocks in the first two sets, piled up three more on an 8-2 run to lead 15-7.

Brandon fought, narrowing the gap as Matt Lefebvre subbed in for Kale Fisher in the front row.

But after they got it to 21-17, they made a trio of errors to end the night early.

TWU WOMEN BOUNCE

BACK TO SWEEP BU

The Bobcat women (2-12) were coming off a huge upset of the country’s No. 5-ranked Spartans (9-5), so TWU wasn’t messing around on Saturday.

The Bobcats hung around in two sets but fell 3-0 (25-21, 25-22, 25-14).

Kaylee Plouffe piled up a match-high 17 kills and five errors while the rest of her team posted 24 and four.

Steph Miller led Brandon with 10 kills and three errors while the team totalled 33 and 15.

The Spartans raced ahead early, capitalizing on a few Bobcat receiving errors to lead 8-2. They maintained a healthy lead to 16-8 when Megan Pickford and Brynn Wildeboer made a few big solo blocks on a 7-2 run to narrow the gap.

But TWU settled down and BU sailed a few attacks long in crunch time to put the visitors up 1-0.

Brandon overcame a 17-13 deficit in the second, riding a strong Pickford serving run to tie it 19-19.

However, the Spartans were nearly error-free from there, turning a few key points around with their defence and gutting out the closest set of the night.

It was all Spartans from there as Sienna Driedger aced Maddy Hettinga twice in a row, then got Wildeboer after a timeout to go up 12-3.

Driedger tacked on a few kills when she finally rotated to the front row to make it 20-8.

Trading points was good enough from there for TWU.

The BU women are back at home this weekend, taking on the Regina Cougars (4-10) on Friday at 7 p.m., and Saturday at 6 o’clock.

The men have a bye week, and will return to action at Edmonton’s MacEwan Griffins the following weekend.

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com