File photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf

The Huskies men’s and women’s volleyball clubs both found themselves outmatched this past weekend when they travelled to Langley, B.C. to play against the Trinity Western University Spartans at the Langley Events Centre Nov. 16 and 17.

The Spartans men’s squad entered the match ranked number two in Canadian university sport polls and proved they deserve their lofty position, knocking off the number seven ranked Huskies 3-1 two nights in a row.

In the first game of the weekend Trinity Western was led by outside hitter Nicholas Del Bianco, who had 19 kills to go along with three blocks. Brad Kufske added 13 kills, six blocks and three aces for the Spartans while Steven Marshall racked up 15 kills and 17 digs.

Paul Thomson led the way for the Dogs, tallying 17 kills, two blocks, two aces and 10 digs in a losing effort.

The following night, the teams met again and Trinity Western completed the sweep of the Huskies, winning 3-1 in four sets (25-20, 25-17, 24-26, 25-18).

Del Bianco continued to be a menace to the Huskies, finishing with 12 kills, five aces and two blocks.

Fourth-year Huskie Bryan Fraser picked up 12 kills and seven digs while Huskies setter Chris Gilbert had 28 assists and four digs on the evening.

The Spartans improved to 7-1 on the season, placing them second in the conference standings. The Dogs drop to 3-5 and currently sit at eighth spot in the standings.

The women’s Huskies squad had a similar outcome as the men, losing in back-to-back nights to the number one nationally ranked TWU Spartans women’s team.

Trinity Western easily handled Saskatchewan, winning 3-0 (25-9, 25-11, 25-15) in the first game of the weekend and 3-0 (25-10, 25-19, 25-11) in the second match to capture the sweep of the Huskies women’s squad and move the Spartans to 6-1 on the season.

A similar game pattern was seen throughout the weekend in each of the teams’ matches: The Dogs would keep the game close early on in each set before succumbing to a mid-set point run by the Spartans.

For the Spartans, Alicia Perrin earned 14 kills, 14 blocks and four aces on the weekend. Setter Kelci French had 18 assists to go along with seven aces, six blocks and eight digs in the sweep.

The Huskies were led offensively by Kayla Tycholiz, who had a team-high seven kills on the weekend, while setter Jina Barker added 20 assists.

The Huskies record falls to a dismal 1-7, tying them with Regina for second last place in the conference.

Both the Huskies men’s and women’s teams will be back on the road Nov. 23 and 24. They travel to Calgary to battle the Mount Royal Cougars.

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File photo: Raisa Pezderic/The Sheaf