Collegiate

Huskies draw No. 6 seed at U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball Nationals

by
Saint Mary's Huskies
March 9, 2026

The Saint Mary’s Huskies will compete at the 2026 U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball National Championship as the #6 seed, taking on the #3 seed Brock Badgers in the quarterfinal on Friday, March 13 at 6 p.m. ADT (2 p.m. PDT) in Langley, British Columbia.

The Huskies qualify as the Atlantic University Sport women’s volleyball champions, as they went a perfect 4-0 in the playoff tournament, sweeping the #2 seed Memorial Sea-Hawks in the semifinals, and the #1 seed UNB REDS in the final. Saint Mary’s finished the AUS regular season with a 10-10 overall record, but have a 19-11 overall record this season against U SPORTS competition.

This is the Huskies third straight trip to U SPORTS Nationals, having won a consolation semifinal game at each of the last two championships, upsetting Saskatchewan in 2025 and Montreal in 2024. The experienced Saint Mary’s side, led by back-to-back AUS MVP left side Emilia Mikanovich, will look to improve upon their back-to-back sixth place finishes at the National stage.

The Alberta Pandas, who won the Canada West title with a four-set win over Trinity Western on Saturday evening, are the top seed heading into the 2026 U SPORTS Women’s Volleyball Championship. U SPORTS announced the seeding on Sunday for the national championship, which runs from Friday to Sunday at the Langley Events Centre, in Langley Township, B.C.

Championship website

The complete field, in seeding order, is as follows:

Alberta Pandas (CW champions, 18-3 regular season, 4-0 playoffs)
Sherbrooke Vert et Or (RSEQ champions, 20-1, 4-1)
Brock Badgers (OUA champions, 17-3, 3-0)
Trinity Western Spartans (CW finalists/hosts, 15-5, 3-1)
UBC Thunderbirds (CW bronze medallists, 17-3, 3-1)
Saint Mary’s Huskies (AUS champions, 10-10, 4-0)
Thompson Rivers WolfPack (CW fourth place/host berth, 14-6, 2-3)
Montréal Carabins (RSEQ finalists, 13-8, 2-3)

In women’s volleyball, the eight participating teams are seeded with the requirements that conference playoff results be respected, that conference champions be seeded no lower than No. 6, and that first-round conference matchups be avoided for the conference finalists.

This is the second straight top seed for the Pandas, who finished third at last year’s championship in Winnipeg. They are making their 27th appearance in the national tournament, while the UBC Thunderbirds qualified for the record 37th time. On the other end, Thompson Rivers will be making their national championship debut.

The quarterfinals will be played on Friday, as follows: (all times Pacific)

Noon: No. 7 Thompson Rivers vs. No. 2 Sherbrooke
2 p.m.: No. 6 Saint Mary’s vs. No. 3 Brock
6 p.m.: No. 5 UBC at No. 4 Trinity Western
8 p.m.: No. 8 Montréal vs. No. 1 Alberta

Consolation games will take place on Saturday at noon and 2 p.m., with the semifinals set for 6 and 8 p.m. Note that, in a departure from usual U SPORTS practice, the winners of the late quarterfinals on Friday will play at 6 p.m. on Saturday, with the winners of the first two quarterfinals following. 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 at 6 p.m.

Tickets for the championship are currently on sale at http://www.usportstickets.ca .

All 11 games of the championship will be streamed on CBC digital platforms in English and Radio-Canada digital platforms in French.

This article is shared as part of our Fair Dealing Policy. For the original article, please visit:
https://www.smuhuskies.ca/sports/wvball/2025-26/releases/20260308qze2dv