Spartans sweep Golden Bears to advance to Canada West Final

Article written by Jake McGrail, UBC Sports Information. Photos by Vamsi Nadella. 

VANCOUVER – The Trinity Western Spartans improved their postseason record to 3-0 in their first match at the Canada West Final Four, beating the Alberta Golden Bears by the same scoreline (25-16, 25-23, 25-15) in a great all-around effort.

Anselm Rein orchestrated the Trinity Western offence to the tune of 33 assists, two kills, three digs and two blocks, and was named the Player of the Game for his team. Kaden Schmidt and Piers De Greeff had 13 and 11 kills, respectively, while Jackson Corneil and Cory Schoenherr combined for 10 kills and 12 blocks.

"It was the combination of our serving, our blocking and our defence, I think all of that as a whole was pretty aligned tonight," said Spartans head coach Adam Schriemer. "I thought Joel [Jansen], our assistant coach with our serving plan, was pretty dialed, and then we were able to get them out of system."

Owen Harris was named the Player of the Game for Alberta following a five-kill, five-block performance over the middle. Dylan Martens led the way in terms of kills with nine.

The opening set featured strong play from start to finish for the Spartans, who hit .357 as a team while forcing the Golden Bears into a -.045 hitting percentage. A 5-0 burst early in the set put them out in front, and a pair of blocks from Schoenherr and Willem Van Huizen put their team up by eight as the frame neared its later stages.

Yet another block, the Spartans' fifth of the set, ended play at 25-16, with the Golden Bears needing to muster up a response. 

The Edmonton side certainly put forth a good account of themselves in the second, firing across 12 kills in what proved to be their strongest offensive performance of the match. But the Spartans kept pace with them throughout, and had the response needed when a block from Harris and Matt Shand put Alberta up 15-12.

What followed was six straight points for Trinity Western, but Alberta fought back late with a big push of their own. A kill over the middle from Harris capped a 5-1 burst and tied the score at 23 points apiece, but Van Huizen and Schmidt proceeded to land two more kills to go up 2-0 in set count.

The final set proved to be fairly similar to the first, with the Spartans jumping out in front early and never looking back. The middle blocker duo of Corneil and Schoenherr starred in the third, with a number of blocks and kills to power their team forward.

Schmidt once again ended the set with a big kill, as the Spartans punched their ticket to both the Canada West Final and 2026 U SPORTS Men's Volleyball Championship. They'll battle the Manitoba Bisons for the conference championship at 6:00 p.m. (PT) on Saturday. 

"We don't know them too much," remarked Schriemer on the Bisons. "They're one of the teams we didn't play this year, and it's a quick turnaround. I think this time of year we've just got to be focusing on our strengths, and the nice part is that our veteran group is playing pretty hot right now. We know they're great, but we've got to apply a lot of pressure on them and that starts with the serve."