Graham Vigrass had a total of three services aces in 12 Canada West regular season matches.

He became somewhat of an ace himself at the CIS championship.

Vigrass had three aces in three matches in helping the Calgary Dinos to the national championship at the Tournament Capital Centre. Two of those aces came in Sunday’s final, when the Dinos beat the Trinity Western Spartans in four sets (25-22, 25-21, 23-25, 27-25).

A 6-foot-7 middle from Calgary, Vigrass was named tournament MVP after getting 16 kills, two aces, 10 digs and two block assists in the final. He had 20 kills and 10 digs and an ace in a five-set quarterfinal victory over the Dalhousie Tigers, and 26 kills in a five-set semifinal victory over the Alberta Golden Bears.

Vigrass’s teammate, setter Jay Blankenau, was named to the tournament all-star team, along with Trinity’s Steven Marshall and Marc Howatson, Alberta’s Spencer Leiske, Pierre-Alexis Lapointe of the Laval Rouge et Or, Bryan Fautley of the Queen’s Golden Gaels and Kevin Tillie of the TRU WolfPack.

The Montreal Carabins won the Fair Play award for sportsmanship.

p p p

For the second year in a row, the WolfPack finished sixth.

The WolfPack lost Sunday’s fifth-place match in five sets (25-23, 15-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-13) to the Golden Gaels, who were ranked fifth entering the tournament. TRU, which swept the Dalhousie Tigers on Saturday, was ranked No. 7 at the start of the tournament.

TRU didn’t show much enthusiasm Sunday.

“A real lack of energy today and maybe a lack of focus at the start,” said WolfPack head coach Pat Hennelly. “We did our normal game stuff . . . a nice long warmup — I’m not sure why the energy wasn’t there.”

Gord Perrin had 25 kills and five aces in the loss, and Tillie ended with 22 kills, three aces and 12 digs. Joren Zeeman had 21 kills for the Gaels, with Fautley picking up 18 kills, 14 digs and three aces.

p p p

Sunday aside, however, Hennelly was pretty pleased with the WolfPack season.

TRU went 10-8 in the tough Canada West conference, and then beat the Brandon Bobcats in a quarterfinal series to make the Canada West tournament. The WolfPack was younger than in years past, with a rookie, Colin Carson, starting at setter, and three new middles on the roster.

“For a young team with a young setter, we did quite well,” Hennelly said. “Earning our way through Canada West in the playoffs is always great — three years in a row, that’s . . . something we can be proud of.”

p p p

The bronze-medal match, between the two top ranked teams, ended with the No. 2 Alberta Golden Bears beating No. 1 Laval Rouge et Or in three sets (25-17, 25-21, 30-28).

The Golden Bears also swept Laval in the final of last year’s tournament in Edmonton.

p p p

This was the eighth time in nine years that Canada West swept the medals, with Laval’s silver medal in 2009 the only exception.

Canada West has won 38 of 44 national championships, including the last 16.

The conference will have four berths — including the Spartans — when Trinity Western plays host to the 2011 championship in Langley. Quebec again will get two berths, with the Ontario and Atlantic conferences getting one each.

mhunter@kamloopsnews.ca