Thursday, March 3: Cascades vs. Alberta Golden Bears, 8 p.m. MT / 7 p.m. PT
Friday, March 4: Cascades vs. UBC Thunderbirds, 3 p.m. MT / 2 p.m. PT
Saturday, March 5: Cascades vs. Saskatchewan Huskies, 3 p.m. MT / 2 p.m. PT
University of Alberta / Edmonton, AB
Webcast: CanadaWest.tv presented by Co-op

Neutral-site playoff games at the UFV Athletic Centre:
Thursday, March 3: Brandon Bobcats vs. Mount Royal Cougars, 8 p.m.
Friday, March 4: Brandon Bobcats vs. Thompson Rivers WolfPack, 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 5: Mount Royal Cougars vs. Thompson Rivers WolfPack, 6 p.m.

THE MATCH-UPS

The Cascades got an assist from the Calgary Dinos on the last weekend of the regular season to secure the final Canada West wildcard playoff berth. With UFV having already concluded its regular-season schedule, the MacEwan Griffins needed to win one of their final two matches vs. Calgary to move ahead of the Cascades for the final post-season slot. The Dinos, though, took care of business with a weekend sweep, enabling UFV to punch its post-season ticket.

The Cascades (West Division fifth-place finisher) are off to Edmonton for a four-team first-round playoff pool, where they'll face the host Alberta Golden Bears (Central Division No. 1), the Saskatchewan Huskies (East Division No. 3) and the UBC Thunderbirds (West Division No. 4). The teams will play a round-robin format with the top two finishers advancing to the next round.

Meanwhile, back home in Abbotsford, the UFV Athletic Centre will also play host to CW men's volleyball playoff games, albeit without the Cascades involved. The Trinity Western Spartans, who earned the right to host both men's and women's playoff pools, have a shortage of court time available at the Langley Events Centre due to the B.C. high school girls basketball championships running concurrently at the LEC. As a result, UFV is co-hosting and will have men's games featuring Brandon, Mount Royal and Thompson Rivers at the UFV Athletic Centre.

RECENT FORM
The Cascades' last game action came against UBC Okanagan, and they authored a memorable moment, earning the program's first-ever CW conference victory – a five-setter on Feb. 20. That result enabled UFV to edge MacEwan for the final playoff berth. They are well familiar with UBC this season, having played four times in division play, but have not yet faced Sask or Alberta.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Nimo Benne, UFV – The sophomore outside hitter from the Netherlands was heroic in UFV's win over UBCO – he racked up a game-high 20 kills to go with six service aces, six block assists, and a team-best 13 digs for good measure. Benne finished 10th in CW in kills per set (3.2), and the Cascades will need him to be at his best as they break new ground in their playoff debut.

Dylan Mortensen, Sask – The Huskies' dynamic 6'8" fourth-year outside hitter was fifth in the conference in kills (3.96) and points (4.7) on a per-set basis.

Matt Neaves, UBC – The Thunderbirds' 6'9" right side is the conference's most dangerous player from the service line – he averaged a CW-best 0.75 aces per set.

Braedon Friesen, Alberta – The Swift Current, Sask. product was the Golden Bears' top offensive threat, finishing sixth in the conference in kills (3.54) and seventh in points (4.2) per set.

QUOTABLE

"We were obviously watching the Calgary-MacEwan games, and we were pretty fired up when we realized we were going to be playoff-bound in our first year in Canada West, which is pretty exciting. I'm just really happy for the guys right now." – Cascades libero Reece Wilson, reflecting on his team's playoff berth

"Who we're playing against is kind of irrelevant. We want to go out there and play the best volleyball we can right now. It's teams that don't really know us, and we don't know them. It's a matter of who comes out and plays the best volleyball that day that's going to be successful. We have no pressure on us. No one expected us to be in the playoffs in the first place, so we're just going to go out there and play our best volleyball and do the best we can." – Wilson, on his team's approach to the post-season