The Men's Bracket Opens

#5 Capilano Blues @ #4 COTR Avalanche – Thursday February 24 – 3:00pm | WATCH HERE

The men’s bracket at the PACWEST volleyball championship will open on Thursday afternoon when the fourth seeded Avalanche face the fifth seeded and defending champion Blues in a quarterfinal.

The Avalanche have been hot this month winning four of their last six matches down the stretch to leapfrog the Blues in the standings.  They also beat the Blues in four sets on February 5^th at Capilano setting up a very interesting quarterfinal.  They are the fourth seed for the first time since 2017 but haven’t won a playoff match since 2016, the last time the championship tournament was held at CBC.

As mentioned, the Blues are the defending champions coming into this tournament having won PACWEST gold AND a CCAA national title in 2020 before the pandemic hit.  They have struggled recently winning once in their last five matches as they prepare for this quarterfinal.   In 2020 they were the third seed and ran the table winning three matches in three days to win PACWEST gold.

The last time the Avalanche and Blues squared off in the playoffs was in 2014 when the Avalanche won in four-sets in a quarterfinal and went onto win bronze.

Head-to-Head

Records: Blues 7-8 – Avalanche 8-7
Sets Won: Blues 27 – Avalanche 34
Sets Lost: Blues 30 – Avalanche 28

Kill Leaders: Rafael Hilario – 185 kills (Blues) – KeAndre Evans 154 kills (Avalanche)

Block Leaders: Jesse Lee – 17 blocks (Blues) – Nate McLennan – 31 blocks (Avalanche)

Dig Leaders: Malachi McMullin – 105 digs (Blues) – Vittor Mateus – 90 digs (Avalanche)