#2 Alberta 3 #3 Calgary 0
Golden Bears-Dinos Stats
Eric Kerkhoven, U of Calgary Sports Info Assistant
CALGARY – Using a tone-setting double block on Graham Vigrass to start the match, the CIS #2-ranked Alberta Golden Bears never looked back, stifling the #3 Calgary Dinos in three sets (25-20, 25-19, 28-26) to take the no.1 seed in Canada West and the right to host the Final Four.
The Golden Bears will now return to Edmonton with a 17-1 record, where they will take a week’s rest before hosting the Canada West Final Four, where at least three CIS national championship bids will be up for grabs.
Calgary (16-2), will now face the seventh-place UBC Thunderbirds in the opening round of the conference post-season.
Blake Giles had a terrific game for Calgary in his final regular-season game as the Dinos’ libero, making the majority of his eight digs in spectacular fashion, while Vigrass led in the kills department, with 13. Jay Olmstead led the Bears with 12 kills, while Spencer Leiske had 11.
Calgary will welcome UBC to the Jack Simpson Gymnasium for a best-of-three series beginning on Thursday, February 17th. Game-times will be 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, followed by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, and then 4:00 p.m. again on Saturday, if necessary.
godinos.com
#4 Trinity Western 3 #5 Manitoba 0
Bisons-Spartans Stats
by Mark Janzen, TWU Sports Info Assistant
LANGLEY, BC – The #4 Trinity Western men’s volleyball team were an impressive lot Saturday night as they earned a momentum-garnering 3-0 (25-17, 25-17, 28-26) win over the #5 Manitoba Bisons at the Langley Events Centre.
The win gave TWU third place in the final Canada West standings with a record of 13-5 and set up a first round playoff date with Thompson Rivers Feb. 17-19, which will be a team that is still very similar to the WolfPack squad that knocked the Spartans out of the playoffs in 2009 in the last men’s volleyball game at the David E. Enarson Gym.
The loss sees Manitoba finish the year with an 11-7 record and in fourth in CW. They will host Brandon in the first round of the playoffs.
The Spartans Verhoeff finished the game with 14 kills to lead his team while Doornenbal had a game-high 52.6 attacking percentage. Marc Howatson had a game-high 15 digs and five service aces.
For Manitoba, it was Voth leading with 15 total kills while Dane Pischke had five kills and a team-high nine digs.
Spartan Athletics
#7 Brandon 3 Winnipeg 1
Bobcats-Wesmen Stats
by Sheldon Appelle, U of Winnipeg Sports Information
WINNIPEG - The Brandon Bobcats fell behind early but recovered to defeat the Winnipeg Wesmen 3-1 (24-26, 25-13, 25-19, 25-17) in the final regular season match for both teams at the Duckworth Centre Saturday night.
Brandon ends the regular season with a record of 10-8. Winnipeg finishes the season with a record of 2-16.
Brandon was led by the duo of Kevin Miller and Paul Sanderson. Miller finished with a match-high 25 kills; Sanderson added 18 kills. Scott Neufeld led the Bobcats with 16 digs. Setter Kyle Dellezay added 10 defensive digs and 47 assists.
Second-year middle Matt Dueck led the Wesmen with 14 kills, 10 digs and two blocks. Fourth year outside Marc Ross added 11 kills. Devin Schmidt had a strong serving match ending with four service aces.
www.wesmen.ca
#9 Thompson Rivers 3 UBC 0
T-Birds-WolfPack Stats
by Ben Schach, UBC Sports Information
KAMLOOPS, BC - With a playoff spot already assured, the UBC Thunderbirds closed out their 2010-11 Canada West regular season with a 3-0 (15-25, 23-25, 19-25) loss to the #9 TRU WolfPack on Saturday night.
UBC finishes the campaign with a 7-11 record and are seventh overall in the conference standings. The T-Birds will travel to Calgary for a best two-of-three quarter-final next weekend.
Ben Chow led the T-Birds with 10 kills in the loss. Cary Brett was solid for the 'Birds, tallying five kills on eight attacks to go along with one service ace and two solo blocks.
TRU (9-9) leaders were Kevin Tillie, Aleks Saddlemyer and Ryan Talsma who finished with seven kills apiece.
TRU Athletics
Saskatchewan 3 Regina 0
Huskies-Cougars Stats
by Braden Konschuh, U of Regina Sports Information
REGINA – Saskatchewan took a straight-sets victory over the Regina Cougars in what was the final match of the season for both teams on Saturday night at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport.
The three sets were settled by a total of just seven points. Saskatchewan won the first two sets by identical 26-24 scores before clinching the match with a 25-22 victory in the third.
Danny Alcorn led the Saskatchewan attack with 10 kills, while Geoffrey Zerr had seven kills and a match-high .583 hitting percentage. Braden McLean had seven kills and led all players with seven blocks, while Matthew Busse had a team-leading 10 digs and five blocks.
Playing in his final contest as a Cougar, Lindsey Isaak left his mark on the school record book by registering 16 digs – the most by a U of R player in a three-set match since records are available beginning with the 2002-03 season. Jamie Wilkins led the Cougars with 11 kills, while Drew Smith had six blocks and Joel Colter had five blocks.
Saskatchewan finishes the season with a 3-15 Canada West record, while the Cougars finish with a 2-16 mark.
reginacougars.com