CIS Championships Day 1 Recap

Volleyball Source is in Calgary for the 2014 CIS men's volleyball championship. Everett Delorme and Pierre Rocque discuss the quarter final matches from Jack Simpson Gym at the end of the first day.

Laval 3 Dalhousie 0

Laval started their quest to repeat as champions with a 3-0 (25-16, 25-18, 25-22) win over Dalhousie in the first match of the tournament. Laval’s strong serving was the key to their success, making it hard for Dalhousie to get into any rhythm offensively, hitting lowly .079 as a team. Laval was led by outside hitter Tommy Belisle who scored 18.5 points in the match, while Bruno Lortie added another 12.5. On the Tigers side of the court, Brian Duquette and Kristen O’Brien paced each other with 9.5 apiece. 

Alberta 3 Montreal 0

The top seed in the tournament did exactly what everyone expected them to and dismantled Montreal in three sets 25-19, 25-. The Carabins stuck in there for the first half of the first set, but Alberta’s over-powering offence was just on other level on this afternoon while Montreal’s fizzled. The Golden Bears (not Pandas) hit a smooth .473 as a team while the Carabins barely stayed afloat with a .083 hitting percentage. Ryley Barnes led the match with 13.5 points.

Western 3 Trinity Western 2

For the second year in a row, the Western Mustangs have defeated the Trinity Western Spartans in the CIS quarterfinals. Unlike last year though, this one was a battle from the get-go. Western opened the match with a 25-21 win that set the tone. The Spartans jumped back and grabbed the next two 25-22 and 25-19. For much of the fourth, it looked like the Spartans were about to exorcise some demons, but a late set push by the Mustangs forced a fifth and deciding set. Trinity Western got out to a jump early but Western found themselves up 8-6 at the switch, and didn’t let go of the lead a Justin Scapinello ace closed it out at 16-14. Garrett May led the Western scoring 22 while both Nick Del Bianco and Brad Kufske found themselves with 23 at the end of the night. Where the Mustangs really dominated was in the middle, with Phil James and Luke Sim scoring 14 and 12.5 respectively. Their opposition of Lucas Van Berkel and Branden Schmidt could only muster 7.5 a piece.

McMaster 3 Calgary 1

When the host Dinos went up 1-0 after taking the opening set 26-24, things were starting to look like we would witness two upsets back-to-back. Unfortunately for the Dino faithful, the five-tooled McMaster had just too much firepower. The OUA champions went on and won the next three, 25-21, 25-17, and 25-22 by overpowering Calgary offensively. Jori Mantha led the Marauders attack, scoring 22.5 in four sets and Stephen Maar added another 19 on the night. Greg Mann was the go to guy for the Dinos, scoring 12.5.