The Trinity Western Spartans spoiled the Winnipeg Wesmen championship celebration. 

Kaden Schmidt had 24 kills and the Spartans hit .373 in a 3-1 (25-22, 25-23, 21-25, 25-20) Canada West conference victory Friday night at the Duckworth Centre, Winnipeg's first regular-season match in its home gym since capturing its first Canada West title in March. 

The No. 3-ranked Spartans showed why they are predicted to once again be among the conference juggernauts hitting .469 and .433 in the first two sets while compiling 52 digs, the program's most since it had 60 in a five-set win over Winnipeg, Jan. 6, 2018. 

The Wesmen were opening home defence of their 2024-25 conference championship, the first for UWinnipeg since the Wesmen joined the Canada West officially in the late 1990s. 

They got another superb effort from left side Jaxon Rose, who had a season- and team-high 15 kills and hit .500 with only one error on 28 swings. He added six digs. Through three matches, Rose has made just seven attack errors on 80 swings for a .375 hitting percentage. 

Luke Lodewyks added 11 kills and 10 digs, and Paxton Koop had 10 kills on 16 swings with no errors and four total blocks.

Setter Alex Krykewich also had 10 digs. 

The Wesmen hit a more-than-respectable .352 on the night, but on a few occasions couldn't get the critical points and the Spartans did. After falling behind 21-18 in the first set, the Wesmen pulled to 21-20 but then gave up four of the next six points. 

Most notably, the Wesmen held a 21-20 lead in the second set but then gave up four of the next five points and Trinity held on for a two-point win. 

The two teams meet again Saturday at 5 p.m. to close the weekend doubleheader.