SSN Features
Laval the favourite at men's volleyball championship
- March 10 2010
A year ago, the Laval Rouge et Or became the first team from outside the Canada West conference to reach the CIS men's volleyball gold-medal final since 2001. This week in Kamloops, B.C., they hope to take it a step further and become the first non-Canada West school since 1994 to capture the Tantramar Trophy.
The 2010 CIS championship, an eight-team tournament, gets underway Friday at Thompson Rivers University with the quarter-final round and concludes on Sunday with the gold-medal match scheduled for 6 p.m. Pacific.
All main-bracket matches from the competition (including the bronze-medal game) will be webcast live on SSN Canada.
Joining Quebec conference champion and top-seeded Laval in Kamloops will be the No. 2 Alberta Golden Bears (Canada West champions and reigning two-time CIS champs), plus No. 3 Dalhousie Tigers (AUS champions), No. 4 Trinity Western Spartans (Canada West finalists), No. 5 Queen's Gaels (OUA champions), No. 6 Calgary Dinos (Canada West bronze medallists), No. 7 Thompson Rivers WolfPack (championship host), and No. 8 Montreal Carabins (QSSF finalists).
Laval, Alberta and Dalhousie are all annual fixtures at the CIS tourney.
The Rouge et Or, who have won three CIS titles, are making their 27th appearance in 29 years.
The Bears, winners of six national banners, will be in the hunt for the 17th time in 18 years. They have reached a mind-boggling eight straight national finals, winning three of them, including a straight-set domination of Laval a year ago in Edmonton.
While they are still looking for an elusive first Tantramar trophy triumph, the Tigers will extend their record streak to 31 straight CIS championship appearances.
Trinity Western, which has medalled in each of its four previous trips to the Nationals and captured its lone title in 2006, returns to the big dance after a two-year absence.
Queen's is also back following a two-year hiatus, while three-time CIS champion Calgary hasn't competed on the national stage since 2003, when they posted a fourth-place finish.
Thompson Rivers is making their third appearance since joining CIS five years ago. The WolfPack previously claimed bronze in 2008.
The Montreal Carabins are back for the first time since 2008 and are 0-6 in three appearances since reaching the national final in 1993.
Seeded No. 1 for the first time since 2000 - when they finished a disappointing seventh in front of a large home crowd in Quebec City - the Rouge et Or know they're going against the odds in Kamloops.
Since Laval claimed their third and last CIS title in 1994 - as the No. 1 seed - teams from western Canada have won 14 straight banners. In fact, the Rouge et Or's three titles (1994, 1992, 1990) are the only ones that have eluded Canada West schools since Sherbrooke was crowned in 1975.
The Quebec champs seem more ready than ever to tackle the challenge, however, as they return 10 players from last year's silver-medal squad. Leading the way is conference MVP and former CIS rookie of the year Karl De Granpre of Pierreville, Que., a third-year power hitter who was fifth in the country in both kills (4.07) and points (4.8) per set.
The Rouge et Or, who led the last eight Top 10 polls of the campaign, go into the championship sporting an impressive 27-2 overall mark against CIS opposition, including a second straight 18-0 regular season in Quebec.
The main obstacle on Laval's road to CIS glory might once again be second-seeded Alberta, whom the Rouge et Or can only meet in the final as the Golden Bears are on the other side of the draw.
The current edition of the Bears weren't as dominant as the 2008-09 team that won its last 28 duels over CIS opponents en route to the sixth title in program history. The biggest loss from the 2009 championship squad was without a doubt Joel Schmuland, who was named both CIS player of the year and CIS tournament MVP last season.
But Alberta still managed to win 22 of 26 matches overall against CIS rivals this season, including a thrilling five-setter over Trinity Western in the Canada West final, and now finds itself in a position to become only the second team in history to claim three consecutive CIS championships.
Winnipeg racked up four straight CIS gold medals from 1971 to 1974.
"It was good to play a tough match," said five-time CIS coach of the year Terry Danyluk following his team's win in the conference final. "We were up 2-0, and Trinity pushed us, and I think we needed to be pushed before we go to the championship. If we had breezed through, who knows how we would have been playing at Nationals. We know now that teams have got what it takes to beat us if we're not careful.
"These are two of the teams that could win the whole thing, right? That's about as good as it's going to get."
Friday's opening round will see Laval kick off the championship against Quebec rival Montreal at 1 p.m. Pacific, followed by Trinity Western battling Queen's at 3 p.m.
Alberta begins its title defence versus conference foe and tournament host Thompson Rivers at 6 p.m., and Dalhousie goes up against Calgary in the 8 p.m. nightcap.
Laval has won all five head-to-head confrontations this season against Montreal, including a pair of 3-0 sweeps in the best-of-three QSSF final. The last time the Quebec rivals met on the main side of the draw at the CIS tourney was in the 1992 semifinals, with the Rouge et Or prevailing in straight sets en route to the national title.
Alberta and Thompson Rivers are also familiar opponents. The Bears took all three duels this year, including a 3-1 victory in the semifinal round of the Canada West Final Four. The two teams have met once at the Nationals since the WolfPack joined the league five years ago, with Alberta dominating in three sets in the 2008 semis on its way to claiming CIS gold.
Although they compete on opposite sides of the country, Dalhousie and Calgary met once this season on the same court where the CIS championship will be played. The Tigers prevailed 3-1 on Jan. 2 at the Thompson Rivers Invitational. Calgary and Dalhousie squared off for the last time on the national stage in the opening round of the 1999 tournament, with the Dinos prevailing in five.
Trinity Western and Queen's will be the only first-round opponents to face-off for the first time this year. The Spartans won 3-0 in the only previous CIS championship matchup between the two programs, in the 2006 quarter-finals, en route to their lone CIS national title.
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loferopsUpset Nov 08 6:52 p.m.