It was quite the weekend for Eric Loeppky and the Trinity Western University Spartans.

The 18-year-old Steinbach native and his Spartans teammates rallied for a five set victory over the University of Manitoba Bisons Saturday night in the Canada West Men's Volleyball final in front of 2,700 at the Investors Group Athletic Centre in Winnipeg.

"It was crazy," said the Spartans first year outside hitter shortly after accepting congratulations for a number of family and friends. "The crowd in here, I've never seen it this packed. I don't even think that it was this packed at our "AAAA" provincial high school finals a couple of years ago when we won with Steinbach Regional. It's a lot different when they're all pretty much rooting for the home team. It's not like the SRSS vs Selkirk or a Miles Mac vs MBCI thing."

The Spartans, who needed five sets to get past the University of Alberta Golden Bears in the semifinals on Friday, defeated the Bisons 25-21, 27-29, 16-25, 25-20, 15-9.

Loeppky, who recorded nine kills, one service ace and five digs in the final, played the first three sets and totally soaked it all in at the Bisons home gym.

"It was honestly so loud. I remember one play, I was like, 'Go, go,' and then he set me a high ball just because he couldn't hear me. It's so loud you build off that energy because you can't really here the fans saying anything towards you. It was just a really cool feeling. It was incredible."

It was a memorable meeting between the top two ranked university volleyball teams in Canada and there's a really good chance both schools will see each other again when the national title is on the line next weekend in Edmonton. Trinity is number one heading into the Nationals and the U of M is number two.

"It can't get any better than this, really," said Loeppky. “I know the Final Four hasn't been in Manitoba for awhile so it was pretty cool for me, Adam (Schriemer) and Carter (Bergen) to come home and play in this gym where we grew up playing in. I'm really excited for Nationals. I know if we line up with these guys again it's going to be another battle."

Loeppky says his first season at the Langley, B.C. campus has been an eye-opener.

"It's almost like a culture shock. Going from being the guy in high school and club to meeting all these great guys like Ryan (Sclater), Blake (Scheerhoorn) and Scott (Plocktis). It's a huge learning curve. The blocking is bigger. You've got to swing higher. You've got to swing harder and you've got to be able to play defense."

Loeppky, who helped Canada's National Junior Team win bronze at the 2016 NORCECA championship last July in Gatineau, Quebec, was named Canada West Rookie of the Year this past week.

"I already knew I was on the All-Rookie team,” said Loeppky. “So I was pretty excited about that and then to get Rookie of the Year is something else."

Just how good has the 2015-2016 Manitoba High School Athletic Association's “AAAA” Athlete of the Year been in his first year of university volleyball?

"I've never seen a rookie season like he's done," said Spartans head coach Ben Josephson. "He's the best rookie I've ever coached. He's incredible talent and the sky is the limit. I can't wait to see his career unfold. We are so lucky to have him."