Both fighting for a spot in the Canada West men's volleyball playoffs, the visiting Thompson Rivers WolfPack answered with a 3-0 (30-28, 27-25, 28-26) victory over the No. 8 ranked University of Saskatchewan Huskies Friday night at the PAC in Saskatoon.

Entering the weekend, the Huskies needed just one victory in the two-match series in the final weekend of regular season action to secure a spot in the postseason. Thompson Rivers needed a combination of two wins and a loss by the Mount Royal Cougars. 

After Friday's match, both Thompson Rivers and Saskatchewan have 12-11 records making Saturday's affair of upmost importance. The winner will advance to the Canada West playoffs. 

In the first set Friday night, neither team had more than a one point lead until the ending extra points. A Casey Knight and Daniel Eikeland Rod block, followed by a Huskie attack error sealed a 30-28 win TRU win. In the second frame, Saskatchewan led until halfway through the set at 15-13. Brad Gunter started the WolfPack on a 5-1 run to take a 20-17 lead. The Huskies tied the set four more times but a Saskatchewan service error followed by another Gunter kill sealed a 27-25 TRU win. The third set mirrored the second with a WolfPack comeback late in the game. The Huskies led 20-16 but Thompson Rivers scored in clumps for the 28-26 win.

Reigning CIS Player of the Year Gunter led the WolfPack with a match-high 16 kills and 10 digs. Knight added another 10 kills. 

Jordan Nowakowski led the Huskies with 12 kills, while Matthew Busse added another 10. Paul Thomson, Busse and Etienne Hagenbuch each recorded four digs.

The two teams will battle in the final match of the Canada West men's volleyball season Saturday night at the PAC. First serve is slated for 8 p.m. and can be viewed on canadawest.tv