LANGLEY, B. cheap jerseys From China .C. (CIS) - The fourth-seeded and tournament host Trinity Western Spartans edged the No. 5 Alberta Golden Bears in a five-set thriller (25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-11) in the third quarter-final match of the CIS mens volleyball championship, Friday evening, in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Langley Events Centre. Championship website (including complete stats): http://english.cis-sic.ca/championships/mvball In a rematch of last Saturdays Canada West bronze-medal game, won in four sets by Trinity Western, the Spartans jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead in the fifth and decisive frame and never looked back. The hometown favourites, who lost 3-1 to Calgary in last years national final in Kamloops, B.C., return to the CIS semifinals and will face either top-ranked Calgary or No. 8 Sherbrooke Saturday at 8 p.m. PST. The Alberta loss puts an end to one of the most remarkable streaks in CIS mens volleyball history. The six-time Tantramar Trophy champion Bears had reached the CIS podium each of the past nine seasons, a sequence that included four gold medals, four silvers and last years bronze. Alberta will play the loser of Calgary-Sherbrooke on the consolation side of the draw Saturday at 3 p.m. PST. With the Spartans earning 18.5 team blocks and the Golden Bears picking up 17.5, it was a war of big men that ultimately was won be the home side as TWU beat Alberta for the third time this season, something the Langley-based school has never done. The Spartans will now play the winner of Calgary and Sherbrooke in the semifinal Saturday at 8:00 p.m. Trinity Western was led by CIS Second Team All-Star Rudy Verhoeff, who had 21 kills, Josh Doornenbal, who had 16 kills and CIS All-Rookie Team member Nick Del Bianco. "The focal point in that one is a phrase we use that is point match," said TWU coach Ben Josephson. "Every point is a match. You could see us holding up one finger at times when the game was close near the end. And that was all we thought about the whole way. And we won enough of them to win the big match. "I thought there were a lot of adjustments made by both teams between who they were setting, how they serving, how they were passing. The tactical adjustments were fantastic and the plays being made on the court just proved why these were two of the best teams in the country all season long." The first set opened in predictable fashion with both teams dealing with some early game jitters which led to a combined five service errors by the first technical timeout. But the game started to turn in the Spartans favour just before that first break as TWU, trailing 6-5, went on a 5-1 run, capped by a kill from setter Ben Ball that gave the home side a 10-7 lead. From there, it looked like the Spartans might take this one going away as they managed to open up a 17-12 lead. But Alberta got right back in it, going on what would become a 10-4 run to go ahead 22-21. But, with the score 22-22, Trinity Western took the sets momentum for good. On a back-and-forth rally with effort plays on both sides, TWUs Doornenbal got the kill that sent an already boisterous crowd into a frenzy. Trinity Western earned two of the next three points and then got the win after a Matthew Tokarik service error. In the second set, the game took a turn towards the Golden Bears right from the start. Alberta got the first two points off of a pair of Spencer Leiske aided blocks and led the entire match. The Golden Bears pushed their lead to as much as 17-9 after a pair of Leiske kills and looked to blow out the Spartans in set two. But TWU came back in a huge way. With Del Biancos insertion sparking TWU, the Spartans rallied and managed to get the game back to a score of 24-23. But after yet another desperate rally from both teams, it was a kill from Albertas Jay Olmstead that snuffed the TWU comeback attempt and gave the Golden Bears a 25-23 victory. "For a freshman to come into that environment against that team and play like that is absolutely shocking," Josephson said. "I knew we had something special when we recruited [Del Bianco] but I had no idea he was that tough." While both teams dropped off in the attacking department, Albertas 8.3 per cent was slightly better than TWUs -2.5 per cent and enough to be the difference. In the third set, the game returned to the Spartans favour. Trinity Western took a 4-1 lead and, while the game was close the whole way, never trailed. With the Spartans leading 8-7, TWU went on a game-changing 10-3 run - one that included four kills from Verhoeff and, at one point, three straight - to take an 18-10 lead. Alberta was never able to get back in the game - the closest they got was six points at 19-13 - and TWU took the third set 25-17. Off the start, the fourth set turned into another tightly-wound tilt as neither team took more than a two-point lead over the first 20 points. With the score 9-7 for TWU, Alberta cranked their game up a few notches and went on a 5-0 run thanks to four straight blocks for points from the tandem of Simon Lidster and Olmstead. That run gave the Golden Bears a lead they would take to 25 points. Much like the second set, the Spartans wouldnt go away, fighting back to make it 23-21, but couldnt get any closer as a Verhoeff attack error gave Alberta the set win. In the fifth set, the Spartans broke open a 5-0 lead with a trio of Dan Jansen Van Doorn blocks. From there, the Golden Bears were unable to recover. Alberta did well to stay alive and keep the game within three points at but was never closer. And on a night when the home crowd played a large role, it was Verhoeffs 21st kill that sealed the deal. The Golden Bears had four players with double-digits in kills as Olmstead finished with 16, Leiske had 13, Lidster had 11 and Justin Merta had 10. cheap jerseys . Not only was the 37th-minute strike the difference, it was also the second-year midfielders first Major League Soccer goal. "I dont know if it changes my confidence," Hurtado said. "Its a weight off my shoulder getting my first MLS goal. cheap nfl jerseys . Canada opened Saturdays play with a 52-0 thumping of Japan, and followed with a 28-12 win over France. That was enough to guarantee them a spot in the quarter-finals of the Cup competition.SEATTLE -- Ryan Johnson flicked in a header early in the first half, and Darlington Nagbe scored midway through the second half on Saturday night as the Portland Timbers beat the Seattle Sounders 2-1 in the first leg of their Western Conference semifinals series. The third-year Timbers, playing in their first MLS post-season contest, need just a draw in Wednesdays second leg at Portland to advance to the conference finals. Osvaldo Alonso scored in the 90th minute for the Sounders, who need to win the second leg by at least two goals to win the aggregate total and advance. If the Sounders outscore the Timbers by one goal in the second match to even the aggregate total, there would be overtime to decide the series. Diego Chara started the play that led to Portlands first goal with a long pass toward the right side. Jack Jewsbury was on the receiving end and took it deep into the corner. wholesale jerseys. He crossed it into the penalty area, and Johnson, cutting across goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemanns 6-yard box, flicked a header that went off Hahnemanns hands and into the far side of the net early in the 15th minute. Johnsons goal was his 10th of the year for the Timbers, who went unbeaten through their last eight games of the regular season (5-0-3) to secure the Wests No. 1 seed. Nagbe made it 2-0 in the 67th minute. Kalif Alhassan, playing on the right side, sent the ball into the box. Nagbe spun around a Seattle defender and parked a shot past Hahnemann into the left side for his 10th of the year. Alonso got one back for Seattle late after a long throw-in by Brad Evans was re-directed by Shalrie Joseph out to Alsonso, who drilled it in past Timbers goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts from 14 yards straight in front for his first of the season. ' ' '
