TORONTO — The Trinity Western Spartans lived up to their No. 1 seed, overcoming a two-set deficit to defeat the Alberta Pandas 3-2 on Sunday and claim their first-ever Canadian university women’s volleyball championship.
Trinity Western is the 11th CIS school to earn the national women’s volleyball banner, ending its 2014-15 season on a 12-game win streak, having only dropped nine sets in that time.
Second-year setter Nikki Cornwall of Coquitlam, B.C., tallied 53 assists and a team-high 20 digs and was named the 2015 championship MVP as the Spartans won 22-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-15, 15-11.
"It feels absolutely amazing," said Cornwall. "Being down the first two sets, I knew we could come back and it was just a matter of finding that fire within us. We were able to keep fighting through all five sets, whereas other teams, I don’t think would be able to do that as well as we did."
Third-year outside hitter Elizabeth Wendel of Caronport, Sask., topped Trinity Western with 21.5 points on 16 kills, three aces and 2.5 blocks, while fifth-year veteran Royal Richardson had 16 kills, 11 digs and two blocks.
Ottawa’s Sophie Carpentier added 15 kills, 10 digs and 2.5 blocks, with Alicia Perrin making 11 kills and seven digs in the win. Cornwall, Wendel and Perrin all earned tournament all-star honours.
"Alicia Perrin has been the glue for us, all of our seniors in fact," added Hofer. "I’ve got great leadership across the board. Not all of them could be on the floor but they’re cheering their guts out in the back corner."
Appearing in their 12th championship final since 1993, the Pandas are now 7-5 in the CIS title match. Alberta has claimed three of the last four national silver medals, most recently winning the title in 2007.
All-Canadian Meg Casault led the Pandas with 18 kills, three blocks and 15 digs, while Kacey Otto added nine kills and 21 digs on the night. Jessie Niles led all players with 23 digs. She, along with teammate Dione Lang, were named to the tournament all-star team.