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TWU volleyball: Top-ranked Spartans stunned in opener, rally for victory in game two

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Trinity Western's Amy Leschied soars for the kill during a recent Spartans home match. The top-ranked Spartans travelled to Saskatoon over the weekend, and after a shocking upset loss the first night, rebounded for a straight sets victory on Saturday. Trinity Western remains in first place in the Canada West.

One night after a shocking five-set loss, the Trinity Western Spartans women's volleyball team regained their top form with a straight sets victory.

The Spartans, ranked first in the country, were in Saskatoon for a pair of matches against the Saskatchewan Huskies.

And the Huskies pulled off the stunner on Friday night, winning 3-2 (12-25,25-21,23-25,25-21,15-9).

Saturday's contest went more as planned as the Spartans won 3-0 (25-22,25-11,25-13) to improve to 12-2. The Huskies fell to 2-12.

The Spartans offence was too much to handle for Saskatchewan as the Langley visitors finished the match hitting at 25.7 per cent, with 41 kills. Seven of the 10 players finished with kills, led by Kara Jansen Van Doorn and Nicole Bazin, who had nine apiece.

Lauren O'Reilly led the way with 24 set assists and four of her team's nine service aces.

In Friday night's loss, the Spartans could not get their attack game on track and struggled to find their offensive rhythm.

Trinity Western finished with an uncharacteristically high 33 errors while hitting for only 12.4 per cent.

Spartans coach Ryan Hofer said his team did not execute after the first set and Saskatchewan took advantage.

"Full credit to Saskatchewan, they played very well and put a ton of pressure on us," he said. "We didn't play to our ability, we didn't play to our standards or do the things we need to do to be succesful.

"We just didn't play good volleyball."

O'Reilly had another solid game, with 47 set assists and five of her team's 13 service aces. She also had 14 digs and six block assists.

Amy Leschied and Alicia Perrin led the attack with 16 and 14 kills, respectively.

Andrea Ball had 28 digs.

The Spartans are on the road this weekend when they visit Brandon to race the 8-6 Bobcats.