No. 6 Golden Bears down No. 3 Laval at CIS men’s volleyball championship

HAMILTON – The No. 6 Alberta Golden Bears are one step closer to their third straight CIS men’s volleyball championship after defeating the No. 3 Laval Rouge et Or in straight sets on Thursday in quarter-final play.

CIS second team All-Canadian Taylor Arnett led the way as the Golden Bears took match 25-15, 25-19, 25-19.

The Golden Bears tallied 16 blocks as a team, and held the Rouge et Or to a team hitting percentage of just nine. Arnett was the leader at the net and was named his team’s player of the game after a performance that included four blocks, eight kills and a team-leading total of 14 points.

“We knew that we had to play our game and get our identity back,” said Arnett. “We lost the Canada West semifinal and we weren’t really playing Golden Bears volleyball. It was our focus to bring that identity back and blocking is a part of that.”

Alberta head coach Terry Danyluk says that it was his team’s attention to detail that ultimately led to their stifling defence on Thursday.

“We talked about Laval having some pretty strong tendencies and I thought that they hit on those,” said Danyluk. “The big thing for us was not just to reach high on the block but to reach over. Our outside hitters got a lot of touches just by sealing the edges.”

Alberta, which has won back-to-back CIS championships and eight in school history, will face Trinity Western in Friday’s semifinals.

The No. 2 Spartans dismantled the seventh-ranked Ryerson Rams 3-1 in the quarters to set up a rematch of the Canada West semifinal that the Golden Bears dropped to Trinity Western.

The Spartans were led by a two-man unit of Ryan Sclater and Blake Scheerhoorn, who combined for 43.5 points as the Spartans won the match 25-19, 25-22, 23-25, 26-24.

Top-ranked McMaster will play No. 5 Saskatchewan in Friday’s other semifinal.

The Marauders toppled the No. 8 Waterloo Warriors in the quarters in straight sets, 25-15, 25-15, 25-18. Meanwhile, the Huskies won their quarter-final against No.4 UNB Varsity Red in five sets, 23-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-20, 15-10.