WINNIPEG – The No. 8 nationally ranked Trinity Western Spartans put an abrupt halt to the Manitoba Bisons' seven-game win streak on Friday night at IGAC, topping the Herd in four (27-25, 25-21, 15-25, 25-23) to improve to 7-6. Manitoba fell to 10-5.
 
Service pressure was a major story early, helping the Spartans sustain momentum at key times during the contest. Henry Rempel finished with four of TWU's seven aces, all coming within the first two sets. As a team, the Spartans had seven aces.
 
"[Serve-receive] was definitely a challenge," said Bisons captain Spencer Grahame, who led all players with 14 kills on a .333 hitting percentage.
 
"Henry Rempel's got a pretty good spin serve and the other guys complement him well. It was tough to limit runs a bit when they were serving at such a pace. Tomorrow I think we need to keep it off the net a little bit and let [setter] Sam [Ludwig] just run the offence. We don't have to be too perfect with it, and just go from there."
 
Manitoba burst out to a 4-0 lead in the first, thanks in part to middle Jonah Dueck, who got his mitts all over a Spartans attack to give his side the four point lead. On the other side, Spartans setter Anselm Rein, second in the conference with 10.10 assists per set, brought TWU back.
 
He was balanced in his delivery, dishing out six assists to five different players early on as the score was kept within one for most of the set.
 
Grahame, who had six kills and only one error, was lethal with his cross court shot from the left during the first, while Piers de Greeff [led Spartans with 12 kills] had six kills for TWU, who had set point at 24-23, but the Herd kept battling.
 
A Jordon Hepper solo block, one of two for last year's U SPORTS Rookie of the Year, tied it at 24, but an error put the Spartans back on match point. Grahame kept the set alive, completing a give-and-go with Ludwig [who had 38 assists], but another error, and a Cory Schoenherr block on a line shot from Kai Boyko ended things.
 
Rempel and Schoenherr both blasted aces early in the second for the Spartans, but attack errors kept Manitoba in it. The visitors had 12 attack errors midway through the second, while Boyko – who had six kills – and Ludwig got in on the kill count. A Dueck ace, followed by a Heppner solo block [assisted by a diving dig from Ludwig] gave the Bisons the lead, but attack errors proved costly for the home side.
 
Manitoba had 32 errors in the game, as the Spartans clawed back into the lead, finishing off set two with another Schoenherr block to win 25-21.
 
The Bisons dominated the third set, winning by ten. Nicoles Carter came in on the right side and was an immediate difference-maker, smashing the set-ending kill cross court on an off-balance angle while also registering an assist, dig, solo and assisted block.
 
"Nic was unreal in practice this week," said Grahame. "He brought a lot of energy. When he came in, it helped step up everyone else's level."
 
Up by as much as six at 16-10, Manitoba pushed back, taking a 21-20 lead off of a TWU error., Grahame also smashed a  kill off a double block during the run. Four errors in the next five points put TWU on match point, and shortly after, Rempel ended the game with a kill.
 
Both teams will be back at it tomorrow at 5 pm.