The Western Mustangs came home with silver medals from this past weekend's OUA Final Four Men's Volleyball Championship in Hamilton after falling 3-1 to the McMaster Marauders in the championship game on Saturday evening.
Despite finishing second in Ontario the Mustangs earned entry to the CIS Championship in Calgary on Thursday this week after defeating the Waterloo Warriors in three straight sets in their semi-final matchup.
The Mustangs now look ahead to CIS Championships at the University of Calgary's Jack Simpson Gymnasium from February 28 to March 2.
"We are looking forward to competing against the best of Canada this week," said head coach Jim Sage. "The tournament should be very exciting for all."
Western vs. Trinity Western - Thursday, February 27 at 6 PM (CIS Quarterfinal)
Watch Live on cis-sic.tv
Western vs. TBA -
Friday - check
westernmustangs.ca following Thursday's game for the exact time and opponent for Friday's game
Watch Live on cis-sic.tv
McMaster and Western enter the national tournament at the No. 2 and No. 6 seeds, respectively, which pits the Mustangs against the No. 3 seed Trinity Western Spartans in their opening Quarterfinal matchup of the tournament for the second consecutive year.
The Spartans captured silver medals this year after falling to Alberta in the Canada West Championship. Trinity Western setter Adam Schriemer was named the Canada West Rookie of the Year this season and Spartans coach Ben Josephson was named Canada West Coach of the Year while Lucas Van Berkel and Nick Del Bianco were both selected as First Team All-Stars. Josephson led the men's volleyball team to its first ever 20-win season, guiding the Spartans to a 20-2 regular season record and a perfect 11-0 record on home court.
Last season the Mustangs shocked the then two-time defending national champions in a five set come from behind win that saw the purple and white take the game after being down two sets to none. This year both the Mustangs and Spartans enter as their respective conference's silver medalists and the winner will advance to face the winner of the McMaster-Calgary quarterfinal matchup on Friday at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time. The loser of Thursday's contest will move to the consolation bracket and play on Friday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
