LANGLEY, British Columbia – The Canada West champion Trinity Western Spartans, who won the Canada West title with a four-set win over Manitoba, have been named the No. 1 seed and will open up the 2026 BioSteel U SPORTS Men's Volleyball championship against the No. 8 seed Western Mustangs at 8 p.m. (ET) Friday, March 13. U SPORTS announced the seeding on Sunday for the national championship, which runs from Friday to Sunday at the Toldo Lancer Centre on the campus of the University of Windsor.
 
This is the Spartans' 18th appearance at the championship, in 15 of the last 16 seasons, where they have won seven titles and 14 championship medals. This will be the third time that the Mustangs and Spartans have met at the U SPORTS championship. In their last meeting in 2014 in Calgary, Alta., Western defeated Trinity Western 3-2 in the quarter-final match.
 
Championship website
 
The complete field, in seeding order, is as follows:

• Trinity Western Spartans (CW champions: 17-3 regular season, 4-0 playoffs)
• Queen's Gaels (OUA champions: 14-6, 3-0)
• Laval Rouge et Or (RSEQ champions: 11-5, 4-0)
• Windsor Lancers (OUA finalists/hosts: 18-2, 2-1)
• Montréal Carabins (RSEQ finalists: 14-2, 2-2)
• Manitoba Bisons (CW finalists: 14-6, 3-2)
• UBC Thunderbirds (CW bronze medallists: 19-1, 3-1)
• Western Mustangs (OUA bronze medallists: 13-7, 2-1)

 
A selection committee made up of U SPORTS coaches ranks the eight participating teams based on a set of five criteria: teams' records against U SPORTS opposition, their rankings in the SRS, RPI and Elo rating systems and the results of the final coaches' poll. The teams are then seeded with the requirements that conference playoff results be respected, conference champions be seeded no lower than No. 6, the top two teams from each conference be on opposite sides of the draw and to avoid conference matchups as much as possible.
 
The quarterfinals will be played on Friday as follows: (all times Eastern)

• Noon: No. 6 Laval vs. No. 3 Manitoba
• 2 p.m.: No. 7 UBC vs. No. 2 Queen's
• 6 p.m.: No. 5 Montréal at No. 4 Windsor
• 8 p.m.: No. 8 Western vs. No. 1 Trinity Western

 
Consolation games will take place on Saturday, March 22 at noon and 2 p.m., with the semifinals set for 6 and 8 p.m. On Sunday, the fifth-place game is set for 1 p.m., with the bronze medal game following at 3 p.m. and the championship game at 6 p.m. 
 
Tickets for the event are currently on sale at usportstickets.ca
 
All 11 games of the championship will be streamed on CBC digital platforms in English and Radio-Canada digital platforms in French.
 
-TW-