The #3 Manitoba Bisons (regular season: 19-5; playoffs: 2-0) advanced to the Canada West men's volleyball Final Four held at #1 Alberta on March 4-5 weekend. The BIsons will play #8 Saskatchewan (regular season: 15-9; playoffs: 2-1) in the first match on Friday, March 4 at 4 p.m. CT. The playoff match can be seen live on canadawest.tv website.

Manitoba needs one match win at the Final Four to qualify for the 2016 CIS championships. In the Final Four is host Alberta (regular season: 23-1) as they play #6 Trinity Western (regular season: 14-10; playoffs: 2-1) in the second match at 7 p.m. CT on Friday. The winners of both first matches will play in the championship final on Saturday, March 5 at 7 p.m. CT while the teams defeated in the first match will square of in the bronze medal match on Saturday at 4 p.m. CT with a CIS championship berth on the line.

During this season, Manitoba went 2-0 against Saskatchewan as they swept the Huskies at home (W 3-0 on Oct. 16/15; W 3-2 on Oct. 17/15). Since the beginning of the second half of the 2015-16 season, the Bisons went 9-3 in the regular season and swept #10 Mount Royal in the conference quarter-final best-of-three series at home.

Since Manitoba joined the Canada West conference in the 2001-02 season, the Herd has played Saskatchewan four times in conference playoffs and holds a 2-2 record as all four encounters have occurred at the Final Four. The last time the two teams met in the playoffs was in the 2005-06 season when Manitoba won 3-0 in the bronze medal match en route to a CIS bronze medal finish at the 2006 CIS championship.

In the 2015-16 regular season, Devren Dear finished first and Adam DeJonckheere was tenth in kills per set at 4.47 and 3.31 plus in conference points, Dear in fifth at 388.5 and DeJonckheere was 11th with 314.5. DeJonckheere ended up fifth and Dear was sixth in Canada West in hitting percentage at .322 and .299. Luke Herr was second in Canada West with 11.10 assists per set. Ken Rooney finished seventh and Josh Crellin was 11th in blocks per set at 1.02 and 0.86. 

Bison men's volleyball - 2016 Canada West Final Four schedule

Fri, March 4            Match 1: #3 Manitoba vs. Saskatchewan at 4 p.m. CT in Alberta

Sat., March 5          Gold/bronze medal matches at 7/4 p.m. CT

Bison Notes: The Bisons are back in the Canada West Final Four for the first time since the 2011-12 season when they were a conference silver medalist and won CIS bronze medal that year.