WVB: Bisons earn No. 6 seed for nationals, will play No. 3 Mount Royal in quarterfinals

RICHMOND HILL, Ont. (U SPORTS) — The Trinity Western Spartans, who swept their way to the Canada West championship, will be the No. 1 seed at this week’s U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball Championship. U SPORTS announced the seeding on Sunday for the 2023 national tournament, which runs from Friday to Sunday at UBC’s War Memorial Gym in Vancouver. This is the fourth straight time, and the sixth since 2015, that the Spartans have entered the tournament as favourites.

The complete field, in seeding order, is as follows:

1. Trinity Western Spartans (CW champions: 22-2 regular season, 5-0 playoffs)
2. Brock Badgers (OUA champions: 18-2, 3-0)
3. Mount Royal Cougars (CW finalists: 19-5, 4-1)
4. UQAM Citadins (RSEQ champions: 13-5, 4-0)
5. Dalhousie Tigers (AUS champions: 17-3, 4-1)
6. Manitoba Bisons (CW bronze medallists: 14-10, 3-2)
7. UBC Thunderbirds (hosts: 18-6, 0-2)
8. McGill Martlets (RSEQ finalists: 12-6, 2-3)

The eight participating teams are seeded with the requirements that conference playoff results be respected, that conference champions be seeded no lower than No. 6, and that first-round conference matchups be avoided for the conference finalists.

All four quarterfinals will be played on Friday, as follows (all times Pacific): 

• 1 p.m.: No. 5 Dalhousie vs. No. 4 UQAM
• 3 p.m.: No. 8 McGill vs. No. 1 Trinity Western
• 6 p.m.: No. 2 Brock at No. 7 UBC
• 8 p.m.: No. 6 Manitoba vs. No. 3 Mount Royal

Consolation games will take place on Saturday at 1 and 3 p.m., with the semifinals set for 6 and 8 p.m. On Sunday, the fifth-place game is set for noon, with the bronze medal game following at 2 p.m. and the championship game at 4:30 p.m.

Tickets for the event are currently on sale at usports.ca.

All 11 games from the eight-team competition will be webcast live on CBC Sports digital platforms (English) and USPORTS.ca (French), up to and including Sunday’s gold medal game. The full webcast schedule will be available throughout the tournament at usports.ca/en/broadcast.