TEAM COMPOSITION

SPA / Trinity Western Spartans - Team Composition

Team manager	BLACHER John
Head coach	JOSEPHSON Ben
Assistant coach	JANSEN Joel
Doctor
Therapist / trainer	BORDEVILLE, ANDREW
Journalist	GERANSKY, Jordan

	No.	Name	Lastname	Shirt Name	Birthdate	Height	Weight	Spike	Block
L	1	Jarrod	Offereins	Offereins	25.08.1990	195	75	323	305
	3	Marc	Howatson	Howatson	08.04.1989	204	81	339	313
	4	Devyn	Plett	Plett	07.11.1992	189	81	320	300
	6	Daniel	Jansen Van Doorn	D. Jansen VanDoorn	21.03.1990	207	98	351	321
	8	Steve	Marshall	Marshall	24.11.1989	189	77	353	321
	9	Bradley	Kufske	Kufske	02.02.1991	195	95	342	315
C	11	Rudy	Verhoeff	Verhoeff	24.06.1989	198	88	349	317
	12	Lucas	Van Berkel	Vanberkel	29.11.1991	210	108	350	326
	13	Branden	Schmidt	Schmidt	05.07.1992	198	86	345	320
	14	Ben	Ball	Ball	17.10.1989	195	77	335	313
	16	Derek	Thiessen	Thiessen	16.04.1991	198	93	343	323
	18	Nick	Del Bianco	Del Bianco	06.02.1992	195	88	340	313

C=Captain L=Libero

Team profile

Since entering the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport) in 1999, the Trinity Western Spartans have been one of the most dominating men’s volleyball teams in Canada.

In 12 years playing at Canada’s highest level of university sport, Trinity Western has captured two CIS national championships (2006 and 2011), two CIS silver medals (2005 and 2010), two CIS bronze medals (2004 and 2007), one Canada West conference championship (2007), three conference silver medals (2005, 2006 and 2010) and one conference bronze medal (2011).

The Spartans have attended Canada’s eight-team national university championship in six of the last eight years and have returned with a medal on each occasion.

The Spartans best regular season was in 2006 when they posted a win-loss record of 16-4 and finished second in Canada West. After that, Trinity Western’s best seasons were in 2011 and 2007 when they were 13-5 and in 2006 when they were 14-6, each time finishing third in the conference.

Trinity Western’s longest league match winning streak is 11, a string they put together from Nov. 27, 2004 to Feb. 4, 2005. The team’s longest set winning streak came in 2005-06 when they won 22 sets in a row to start the regular season, spanning from Oct. 28, 2005 to Nov. 19, 2005.

From Luke Bainard being named a Canada West Second Team All-Star after the 1999-2000 season to Rudy Verhoeff being named a Canada West First Team All-Star and CIS Second Team All-Star after the 2010-11 campaign, all in all, the Spartans have had four CIS First Team nominees, five CIS Second Team nominees, 10 Canada West First Team nominees, eight Canada West Second Team nominees , four CIS All-Rookie Team nominees and four Canada West All-Rookie Team nominees.

The Spartans most illustrious campaign in terms of individual honours was in 2006-2007 when setter Josh Howatson was named the CIS male athlete of the year, the CIS Player of the Year, the Canada West MVP and the Dale Iwanoczko Award winner, which is given to the player who best exemplifies excellence in volleyball, academics and community involvement. That year, Howatson’s teammate, Steve Rogalsky, was also named a Canada West First Team All-Star and CIS Second Team All-Star.

Coach profile

When Ben Josephson took over as the Trinity Western men’s volleyball coach in 2007, his goal was plain and simple: improve every year.

Four years later, and the native of Strathmore, Alta. has done exactly that.

Culminating in winning the CIS national championship last year – and doing it on the side's home court no less – in his four-year tenure as coach, Josephson has taken the Spartans from simply being a playoff challenger to re-establishing Trinity Western as one of the top men’s volleyball teams in Canada.

When Josephson took over the reins in 2007, after being an assistant coach from 2004-2007, Trinity Western had qualified for, and finished on the podium at each of the previous four CIS national championship tournaments. So, for the former Spartans setter, expectations were high.

In his first year as the Trinity Western head coach, 2007-08, Josephson led the Spartans to the playoffs but saw his team lose in the first round against Winnipeg.

In his second year, 2008-09, Josephson guided the Spartans to a third place finish in the Canada West regular season and, thus, hosted a playoff series for the first time with Josephson at the helm. Despite losing to Thompson Rivers in a tightly-contested three-night series, the season was a solid block in which to build upon.

The following year, in 2009-10, the Spartans qualified for their first national championship under Josephson’s direction and, to the surprise of many, came home with a silver medal after losing to Calgary in the championship match.

That result gave Josephson’s team just one more peg to climb in 2010-11. Playing on their home court in the national championship, Trinity Western beat three Canada West foes – Alberta, Calgary and Brandon – en route to winning CIS gold.

Before moving to the side-lines, Josephson was a stand-out player for the Spartans from 1998-2003 as he was twice named team co-captain and, in 2003, earned the school's first ever CIS All-Canadian award while also being named a Canada West First Team All-Star. That year, his last as a Spartan, Josephson averaged 9.82 assists per game, second best in the conference.

Along with his side-line duties at Trinity Western, Josephson has also coached internationally as an assistant with Canada’s senior team in 2009 and with Canada’s World University Games teams in 2005 and 2011.