SASKATOON – The University of Alberta Golden Bears will have an opportunity to defend their CIS men’s volleyball championship title after defeating the No. 2 Dalhousie University Tigers in straight sets Friday in semifinal action. With the 25-22, 25-21, 25-19 win, the third-seeded Golden Bears advance to their second straight championship final and fourth in eight seasons.
Ryley Barnes, a fourth-year left side who was named tournament MVP in 2014, recorded a match-high 17 kills and 19 points for Alberta. He also added two digs and two solo blocks in the effort while middle Taylor Arnett added another nine kills for the Bears and four blocks.
“I thought Dalhousie was a very well coached team and I knew we had to play pretty much error free,” said Alberta head coach Terry Danyluk.
Two-time CIS All-Canadian Bryan Duquette led the Tigers in the loss with 12 kills and six digs. Matthew Donovan and Alex Dempsey added another six kills each.
Watch the video below: Busy weekend in University of Alberta athletics
Alberta will meet fifth-ranked Trinity Western University for the national title after the Spartans upset the No. 1 McMaster Marauders in four sets in Friday’s other semifinal. Trinity Western University will return to the final for the fourth time in six seasons after a 28-26, 25-27, 25-17, 26-24 win.
“The Marauders have been No. 1 all year,” said Spartans head coach Ben Josephson. “We had to play the perfect game to beat them and we did as close to executing that as we could.”
Nicholas Del Bianco led the Spartans with a match-high 15 kills, while fellow outside hitter Ryan Sclater added another 12 in the match. Tyler Koslowsky led the team with 12 digs.
Danny Demyanenko led the Marauders recording 14 kills, while Alex Elliot added 13 and Jori Mantha another 12. Pawel Jedrzejewski had 10 digs for McMaster.
Dalhousie and McMaster will play each other for bronze.
Also, the No. 8 seeded University of Saskatchewan Huskies toppled the No. 4 seed University of Laval Rouge et Or 3-1 in the second consolation semifinal Friday.
READ MORE: CIS men’s volleyball championship underway in Saskatoon
“Our play was not good enough,” said Laval head coach Pascal Clement. “Unfortunately, it’s too difficult to come back from a big deficit. It’s times like these where we have an opportunity to develop character.”
The Huskies took the contest, 19-25, 26-24, 25-15, 25-14 and will face the No. 7 seed York University Lions for fifth-place at the national tournament. York defeated the sixth-ranked Waterloo Warriors 3-2 earlier in the day in the other consolation semifinal.
The Lions needed all five sets to advance past the Warriors, winning 25-20, 22-25, 25-16, 23-25, 16-14.
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