February 18 - The #4 ranked Manitoba Bison men's volleyball team clinched a berth into the 2006 CIS National Championship being held from March 3-5 at McMaster University with a 3-1 win (25-23, 23-25, 25-19, 25-20) over #5 ranked UBC Thunderbirds on Saturday, February 18.

The Bisons secured one of the four Canada West berths by capturing the series by a 2-0 result against the Thunderbirds in the best-of-three series. The team has now extended their winning streak to eight games.

Matt Balchin led Manitoba with 16 kills while Toon van Lankvelt and Josh Klassen posted 15 and 13 respectively. Andrew Bonner slammed a game high 18 kills for UBC.

Complete statistics...

This is the 25th out of the last 26 years for a team led by head coach Garth Pischke to make the CIS National Championships (only year missed was the 1996-97 season). The team is seeking to improve on their 2005 CIS Championships showing when they won the bronze medal match over Saskatchewan by 3-2 (24-26, 25-21, 25-17, 18-25, 22-20).

This upcoming weekend, the Bisons will compete at the Canada West Final Four at the University of Alberta. On Friday, February 24, the Herd will play the first match at 7:30 p.m. CT against the #1 ranked Alberta Golden Bears. The second match will be #2 Trinity Western versus #3 Saskatchewan at 9:30 p.m. CT. The winners will meet on Saturday, February 25 at 9:30 p.m. CT in the Canada West Gold Medal Match with the Bronze Medal Match played earlier at 7:30 p.m. CT. All four teams will be competing at the 2006 CIS National Championships.

Canada West Final Four at U of Alberta

• Bisonsl vs. Alberta, Friday, February 24: Game time at 7:30 p.m. CT
• Saturday, February 25: Canada West Gold Medal match Game time at 9:30 p.m. CT
• Saturday, February 25: Canada West Bronze Medal match Game time at 7:30 p.m. CT