Bears, Pandas aim for podium in volleyball

Proponents of Canada West volleyball have been saying it’s the top conference in U Sports for years.

And now they’ve got the science to back it up.

The top three seeds in the national men’s volleyball championships at Hamilton’s McMaster University, running Friday to Sunday, are all Canada West representatives, with the University of Alberta Golden Bears sitting No. 2, behind the Trinity Western University Spartans and ahead of the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds.

“It’s been a while since the seeding has gone that way,” said Bears head coach Terry Danyluk, pointing to the new statistical Volleyball Ranking System that’s been sizing up teams across the nation over the season based on performance and common opponents.

Just coming out of Canada West is no easy task in itself.

“No, it definitely isn’t. Our conference has been so dominant the last 25 years at the university level,” Danyluk said. “I think, in the last 21 years, we’ve won 20 of 21. Laval’s won one in there somewhere. So just getting out of our conference means you’ve got a good shot. But with how good the teams have been the last few years, to get out of the conference has been a lot of work.”

The Bears play the quarter-final round against the No. 7 seed Queen’s University Gaels (10-8) on Friday at 1 p.m.

NEW-LOOK PANDAS RETURN TO NATIONALS

If there was a sense of unfinished business for the University of Alberta Pandas heading into the U Sports volleyball national championships, it’s going to have to go on the back burner.

Losing to the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in four sets (25-22, 25-20, 13-25, 25-20) in the championship final a year ago in Toronto means there is only one way to improve on last season’s silver medal.

“Yeah, for sure,” said Pandas head coach Laurie Eisler. “That still stings a bit, but we’re definitely a different team and in a different situation coming in. It’s a totally different context.

“For a lot of the group, they weren’t there last year, they weren’t part of that team.”

The 2017-18 edition of the Pandas is in Quebec City looking to put Alberta’s program on the podium for the third time in four years, with their last national championship coming in 2007.

But before they can even think about medals or avenging any sort of loss to the T-Birds, the seventhseed Pandas (15-9) will kick off the tournament against the No. 2 Universite de Montreal Carabins (18-2) on Friday at 11 a.m.