Mariners Meet Tommies

VIU Mariners vs. St. Thomas Tommies – Wednesday March 11, 12:00pm PST

The CCAA men’s championship touranment will open on Wednesday afternoon in Edmonton with the PACWEST wildcard Mariners meeting the ACAA champion Tommies in a quarterfinal.

The Mariners are coming off a solid regular season where they finished 12-8, then snagged a PACWEST silver medal after an impressive semifinal win over the reigning champion Douglas Royals in three-straight sets.   Rylan Van Kooten and Owen Dyck were named tournament All-Stars in the process.

Their defence has led the way this season, while the offence has come up big points when needed led by Van Kooten, Jake Stobbe and Carter Munro. 

They will meet a Tommies (14-6) team who only lost one match in the regular season and swept the Univerity of Sainte Anne in three straight sets in the ACAA gold medal match.  The Mariners block defence will need to be aware of Kalan Noonan and where he is on the floor after leading his club with 192 kills during regular season and Mason Brewster who collected 179.   The Tommies have several different weapons and can be difficult to match up against.

Looking back at the 2024 national championship when the Marirnes faced the Tommies last, the PACWEST champs scored a three-set win to advance, winning 25-23, 25-19 and 25-21.  The tournamenet was hosted at Camosun College and the Mariners finished with a bronze medal.

The winner on Wednesday will advance to a semifinal while the loser moves to the bronze medal side of the bracket for a bronze quarterfinal.