March 6 - The Manitoba Bison men's volleyball team were seeded fifth coming into the CIS National Championships held at the University of Laval and earned a bronze medal by defeating the #3 ranked Saskatchewan Huskies in a thrilling five set match by a score of 3-2 (24-26, 25-21, 25-17, 18-25, 22-20).

In the bronze medal match, Matt Balchin led the team with 22 kills and nine digs, CIS Second Team All-Canadian Toon van Lankvelt had nine kills and 12 digs, Sean Jones registered 17 kills while Alex de Chantal contributed nine digs, Trevor Froese had eight digs and setter Kyle Joslin had 55 assists and seven digs.

This was Manitoba's first win against Saskatchewan in seven tries this season (0-4 in conference play, 0-1 pre-season, 0-1 at Canada West Final Four and 1-0 at CIS Championship).

This is the 24th out of the last 25 years for a team led by head coach Garth Pischke to make the CIS National Championships (only year missed was the 1996-97 season).

Under Pischke, the Bisons have collected nine CIS gold medals, nine CIS silver medals, three CIS bronze medals, two fourth place finishes, and their lowest showing was a fifth place.

The team improved on last year's showing at the CIS when they lost in the bronze medal match to Trinity Western by a 3-1 score (29-27, 25-16, 16-25, 25-21).

Championship Awards

Tournament MVP : Brock Davidiuk, Alberta

All-Stars:

• Christian Bernier, Montréal
• Carl Lalancette, Laval
• Mark Dodds, Saskatchewan
• Matt Balchin, Manitoba
• Nick Cundy, Alberta
• Jeffrey Stel, Trinity Western

Friday, March 4

• 12 pm York 1 vs. Trinity Western 3
• 2 pm Montréal 0 vs. Saskatchewan 3
• 5 pm Manitoba 3 vs. Dalhousie 2
• 7 pm Laval 0 vs. Alberta 3

Saturday, March 5

• Consolation #1 : Montreal 3, York 1 (21-25, 25-23, 25-11, 25-22)
• Consolation #2: Laval 3, Dalhousie 0 (26-24, 25-22, 25-21)
• Semi-final #1: Trinity Western 3, Saskatchewan 0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-12)
• Semi-final #2: Alberta 3, Manitoba 0 (25-23, 25-17, 25-16)

Sunday, March 6

• 10:00 am 5th Place Game - Laval 3 vs Montreal 2 (27-25, 23-25, 21-25, 25-16, 15-10)
• 12:00 pm Bronze Medal Game - Manitoba 3 vs Saskatchewan 2 (24-26, 25-21, 25-17, 18-25, 22-20)
• 3:30 pm Gold Medal Game - Trinity Western vs Alberta (live TSN)