WVB: Quarterfinal Preview
Get ready for four exciting matchups
Article by Brian Swane, special to CW
Feb. 27, 2025 - The 2025 Canada West women’s volleyball playoffs continue this week with the quarterfinal round, taking place at sites across the conference.
In best-of-three series, the reigning champion Manitoba Bisons take on the Mount Royal Cougars, while the top-seeded Fraser Valley Cascades host the Saskatchewan Huskies, the Winnipeg Wesmen tangle with the Alberta Pandas and the Thompson Rivers WolfPack meet the UBC Thunderbirds.
Matches get underway Thursday and continue through the weekend, available to watch live and on demand at Canada West TV - Powered by BioSteel.
Alberta, Manitoba, Mount Royal, Thompson Rivers, UBC and UFV are ready for action after having a bye week following the end of the regular season. The playoffs opened last week with Winnipeg sweeping the Calgary Dinos and Saskatchewan getting past the Trinity Western Spartans 2-1 in the best-of-three play-in round.
Manitoba begins its conference title defence against the vastly improved Cougars, who are back in the playoffs after finishing near the bottom of the standings last season. It was just two years ago that the Cougars reached the final, and Mount Royal still has a number of veterans from its 2023 team that can draw on their postseason experience.
Winnipeg is another team back in the playoffs following a one-year absence, and the Wesmen will have their work cut out for them, as they visit the hottest team in Canada West: Alberta has won 17 straight matches, including nine in a row at home, and 10 of its last 16 victories have come in straight sets.
In just their fourth season since joining Canada West, the Cascades finished atop the standings for the first time. Now UFV faces an upstart Saskatchewan team that looks to upset the No. 1 seed just one week after sending the Spartans to their earliest exit in two decades.
While the other six teams did not play against their respective quarterfinal opponents in 2024-25, Thompson Rivers and UBC are very familiar with one another: the provincial rivals met twice during the regular season, both wins for the T-Birds. UBC and Thompson Rivers also squared off in the quarterfinal round last year, with the T-Birds sweeping that best-of-three series.
Quarterfinal winners will advance to next week’s Canada West women’s volleyball Final Four, which will see a champion crowned following two days of elite and exciting competition.
No. 1 UFV Cascades (17-3) vs. No. 8 Saskatchewan Huskies (10-10 regular season, 2-1 playoffs)
📍 UFV Athletic Centre in Abbotsford
- Series schedule:
- Game 1 – Friday, Feb. 28 – 6 p.m. PST
- Game 2 – Saturday, March 1 – 4 p.m. PST
- Game 3 (if necessary) – Sunday, March 2 – 1 p.m. PST
- Regular season head-to-head:
- Did not play
- Players to watch:
- Lauren Attieh (UFV, fourth year, outside) led the Cascades in several categories this season, including points (297.0), kills (254), and service aces (33).
- Rosetta Cyr (Saskatchewan, third year, outside) led all players with 14.5 points and 13 kills as the Huskies beat Trinity Western 3-0 in the deciding match of the play-in round.
No. 2 Alberta Pandas (17-3) vs. No. 7 Winnipeg Wesmen (10-10 regular season, 2-0 playoffs)
📍 Saville Community Sports Centre in Edmonton
- Series schedule:
- Game 1 – Thursday, Feb. 27 – 6 p.m. MST
- Game 2 – Friday, Feb. 28 – 6 p.m. MST
- Game 3 (if necessary) – Saturday, March 1 – 6 p.m. MST
- Regular season head-to-head:
- Did not play
- Players to watch:
- Abby Guezen (Alberta, second year, outside) followed her Rookie of the Year campaign in 2023-24 by increasing her kills per set from 3.04 to a team-best 3.51 this season.
- Selva Planincic (Winnipeg, fifth year, left side) was named Canada West Player of the Week after notching a career-high 23 kills in Game 1 of the play-in series versus Calgary.
No. 3 Manitoba Bisons (16-4) vs. No. 6 Mount Royal Cougars (12-8)
📍 Investors Group Athletic Centre in Winnipeg
- Series schedule:
- Game 1 – Thursday, Feb. 27 – 6 p.m. CST
- Game 2 – Friday, Feb. 28 – 6 p.m. CST
- Game 3 (if necessary) – Saturday, March 1 – 4 p.m. CST
- Regular season head-to-head:
- Did not play
- Players to watch:
- Raya Surinx (Manitoba, third year, left side) followed up being named last season’s Canada West MVP by leading the league and all of U SPORTS with 310 kills and 4.84 kills per set in 2024-25.
- Emma Boyd (Mount Royal, fourth year, middle) was selected as a Canada West Second Team All-Star this season, the first such honour for the revered graduating senior.
No. 4 UBC Thunderbirds (15-5) vs. No. 5 Thompson Rivers WolfPack (13-7)
📍 War Memorial Gym in Vancouver
- Series schedule:
- Game 1 – Friday, Feb. 28 – 5:30 p.m. PST
- Game 2 – Saturday, March 1 – 6 p.m. PST
- Game 3 (if necessary) – Sunday, March 2 – 5 p.m. PST
- Regular season head-to-head:
- Jan. 31: Thompson Rivers 0 at UBC 3
- Feb. 1: Thompson Rivers 0 at UBC 3
- Players to watch:
- Emelie Silovs (UBC, third year, outside) had two of her best matches against Thompson Rivers during the regular season, registering career highs of 10.5 points, 8 kills and 4 digs.
- Rida Erlalelitepe (Thompson Rivers, first year, outside) made a spectacular Canada West debut this season, receiving a First Team All-Star selection after racking up 299 points.