Thunderbirds, Spartans finish Showcase 3-0

by Gary Ahuja

It was a pair of B.C. teams who dominated at The Volleyball Showcase.

The six-team exhibition featured two Canadian women’s university programs apiece from British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario at the three-day event held October 14 to 16 at Langley Events Centre.

The event was organized by The Volleyball Network and featured six of the premier women’s USPORTS volleyball programs.

“The level of play was incredible, especially for the middle of October,” said Elie Shermer, creator and founder of the Volleyball Network.

While Shermer was happy with the competitiveness of each match, he said both the Thunderbirds and Spartans showed just how strong they are.

Both the UBC Thunderbirds (Vancouver, BC) and Trinity Western Spartans (Langley, BC) finished with identical 3-0 records, with each team also dropping just a single set over those the course of those three games.

The Thunderbirds were 3-0 winners over both the Queen’s Gaels (25-18,26-24,25-23) and Alberta Pandas (25-19,27-25,26-24) on the first two days before dropping their first set of the weekend on Sunday, only to close with three straight to defeat the Mount Royal Cougars 3-1 (20-25,25-15,25-23,25-23). The Cougars were also 2-0 heading into the contest.

The Spartans won 3-1 (25-22,25-23,23-25,25-13) on Friday over Alberta and then closed with 3-0 wins over both the Waterloo Warriors (25-17,25-20,25-19) and Queen’s (25-23,25-20,25-12).

Mount Royal (Calgary, AB) finished the weekend at 2-1 while Alberta (Edmonton, AB) was 1-2. Both Waterloo (Waterloo, ON) and Queen’s (Kingston, ON) were 0-3.

For more information on the event, please visit www.volleyballshowcase.ca

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