Familiar Foes

#1 COTR Avalanche vs. #4 Capilano Blues – Friday February 27, 8:00pm | WATCH HERE

The final semi-final of the day is on the men’s side of the bracket when the top seeded Avalanche lock up with the fourth seeded Blues on Friday night.  They just met in the regular season finale two weeks ago going the distance in both matches during the Valentine’s Day weekend.

The Avalanche (17-3) find themselves in a familiar position as the #1 seed for the second straight season, looking to earn the school’s first gold medal in men’s volleyball. They come into the playoff tournament winning three straight but its hasn’t been easy, as three of their last four matches have gone to a fifth and decisive set.   They swept the Blues in the seasonal series and showed their veteran leadership winning three of the four in a fifth set, including two in a row, just two weeks ago.

Offensively the Avalanche are extremely talented led by Dylan Annala who tallied 309 kills this regular season and of course the consistent Diego Policarpo who became the PACWEST all-time leader in kills this season with 1308, something he did against the Blues.  In the middle, the Avalanche can hurt you with Luke Margenau and Ethan Braaum, both able to play big at the net and chip in on the offence side when needed.  In the backcourt Reece Clarke has been a major factor in the libero position with a Conference high 216 digs.

This is the last ride for this veteran laced group, wanting to leave their mark on the COTR program and the PACWEST.

The Blues (9-11) limp into the playoffs losing three in a row, all three in a fifth set.  They are back in the championship for the first time since the 2022 season, when the tournament was hosted at CBC and they met the Avalanche in a quarterfinal.  They lost in a fifth set that day and Policarpo tallied 17 kills.  The Blues have a chance for some payback on Friday, playing in the same venue but will need to play a gritty style of volleyball and pull out all the tricks against the Avs in order to advance in the playoffs.  Luke Tiegen is their main source of offensive punch with 260 kills on the season but needs some help to score points.  Shub Wander and Quentin Middleton will be called upon for some secondary scoring, in order to shake up things on the offensive side. 

Not only is a berth in the PACWEST gold medal match on the line, but both teams in the championship match will earn an invitation to the CCAA national championship tournament hosted in Edmonton in mid-March.