The calendar said October but the vibe felt fully February.

The Winnipeg Wesmen men's volleyball team rallied from a two-set deficit and shocked the defending national champion Trinity Western Spartans 3-2 (24-26, 21-25, 25-23, 27-25, 15-11) in Canada West conference action Saturday night at the Duckworth Centre. 

Liam Kristjanson had 12 kills with a career-high 10 digs, while Nigel Nielsen and Ethan Duncan both added 10 kills apiece. 

Kristjanson also had a solo block and eight block assists, and Nielsen had five block assists and two aces. Setter Alex Krykewich had four block assists and two aces.

The Wesmen prevailed in an atmosphere that had playoff intensity to it. After leading most of the way in Set 3 to force a fourth set, they came back from a 12-8 deficit in the fourth to pull even at 15-15. They then won four of the next six points to pull ahead 19-17.

Winnipeg would eventually get to 24-22 up but the Spartans fought off three set points before Nielsen's kill sealed it.

In the fifth, a four-point run proved decisive. With the teams tied at 6, Nielsen got a kill and then served the team through four straight points to make it 10-6.

Isaiah Olfert had a team-high 18 kills and hit .438 as the Wesmen improved to 3-1 and sent the juggernaut Spartans to 1-3 in the process. Olfert was outstanding against his former team, hitting .449 over two matches.

On Friday, the Wesmen snapped a nine-match, six-year losing streak against the Spartans, and on Saturday they followed that with their first weekend sweep of TWU since January 2010. 

Henry Rempel had 23 kills to lead the Spartans (1-3) while Piers De Geeff added 12 and Kaden Schmidt 11.