MVB Final Four Preview

Article by Brian Swane, special to CW

There will be a new king of Canada West men’s volleyball crowned this week, when the 2026 Canada West Men’s Volleyball Final Four takes place at War Memorial Gym in Vancouver.

Competition begins Friday (March 6) with semifinal matches, as the host UBC Thunderbirds take on the Manitoba Bisons at 5:30 p.m. PST, followed by the Alberta Golden Bears meeting the Trinity Western Spartans at 7:30 p.m. PST. Saturday will see the bronze medal match at 4 p.m. PST, leading up to the gold medal final at 6 p.m. PST.

In best-of-three quarter-final action last week, the defending champion Winnipeg Wesmen were eliminated by Alberta, ensuring that there will be a new champ in 2026. Other quarter-final series saw UBC get past the Calgary Dinos, Trinity Western sweep the Saskatchewan Huskies, and Manitoba defeat the UBCO Heat.

Before Winnipeg captured the Costa Chrysanthou Trophy last year, Alberta had won the prior two championships, in 2023 and 2024. The Golden Bears can lean on that experience, with four players on their roster who were part of those back-to-back triumphs, including outside hitter Jacob Sargent, who was selected to the Canada West First All-Star Team after leading Alberta with 249 total kills in the regular season.

In Trinity Western, Alberta is facing one of its greatest rivals. This will be the eighth time in the last 12 postseasons that the Golden Bears and Spartans have met in either the Canada West semifinal or championship game. The perennial powerhouses split a pair of matches against each other in Edmonton during the regular season, with Alberta winning 3-1 on Nov. 28 before Trinity Western won 3-2 the next day.

Since their loss to Alberta, the Spartans have been red-hot, winning 11 of 12 matches against Canada West opponents. Trinity Western outside hitter Kaden Schmidt, a Canada West First Team All-Star selection, led the conference with 380 kills during the regular season, an incredible 118 more than the next closest student-athlete.

It’s been a long time since Manitoba hoisted the Costa Chrysanthou Trophy, with the Bisons’ last conference championships coming back-to-back in 2002 and 2003. In fact, this is Manitoba’s first semifinal appearance in nine years. But while they might be the biggest underdog going into the Final Four, the fifth-seeded Bisons have a lot going for them.

Manitoba went 7-2 on the road during the regular season and is the only semifinalist that won its quarter-final series last week on the road, going into UBCO Gymnasium and knocking off the powerful Heat in three matches. The Bisons dropped a pair of matches at home to UBC in October, but they’ve been improving ever since, and were on an 11-match winning streak before losing the second match of their best-of-three series against UBCO.

With such a stacked field in Vancouver for the 2026 Canada West Men’s Final Four, UBC hopes home court can be the edge it needs. The Thunderbirds are a perfect 11-0 at War Memorial Gym in the regular season and playoffs combined, dropping only six sets in the process.

Exactly 40 years have passed since the Thunderbirds last won the conference championship, but this may be the best men’s volleyball team that UBC’s had in decades. Led by fifth-year setter Mason Greves, who recently moved into second place for most assists all-time in Canada West men’s volleyball, UBC dominated Canada West during the regular season, going 19-1, and after sweeping the Dinos last week, has now won 15 straight matches.

Tickets for the 2026 Canada West Men’s Volleyball Final Four are available to purchase online and all the action will be streamed live and on-demand at Canada West TV – Powered by Biosteel.

Fans can view recaps and highlights from each match at WinTheWest.ca.

UBC Thunderbirds

Trinity Western Spartans

Alberta Golden Bears

Manitoba Bisons