The Alberta Golden Bears dominated in every statistical category to capture the CIS men’s volleyball national championship title.
The Bears were playing the Trinity Western Spartans on Saturday night at Saskatoon’s Physical Activity Complex in a rematch of the Canada West title game the week before.
“They were great,” said Spartans coach Ben Josephson about the Alberta squad which won 3-0 (25-19,25-17,25-15).
“I’m not really disappointed with our performance. I’m disappointed with some execution things and some game plan things, but there was no way that those things were going to be enough to win.
“Alberta played a fantastic game in every phase and they earned that victory.”
The first set — which Josephson said was the turning point — was tied at 16 before Alberta scored nine of the final 12 points.
The Golden Bears out-hit Trinity Western .389 to .117, had the block advantage 9-6, and had five aces to the Spartans three. They also had 28 digs compared to 16 for TWU.
The Spartans’ Danny Grant was the team’s player of the game with four kills and three blocks while Nick Del Bianco was named to the tournament all-star team.
This was the Spartans fourth appearance in the national championship game in the past six years and it was the program’s eighth medal. They have won three gold, three silver and a pair of bronze.
Prior to the championships, Del Bianco was named the CIS player of the year.
He was also a first team all-Canadian while teammate Ryan Sclater was a second team all-Canadian.
