For the first time in program history, the Winnipeg Wesmen will host the Canada West Final Four.

The road to a conference championship will go through the River City and the Duckworth Centre after the Wesmen men's volleyball team dropped the Manitoba Bisons 3-0 (25-18, 25-21, 25-21) in Match 2 of the best-of-three quarter-final series at the Duckworth.

The win grants the No. 1-seeded Wesmen hosting rights for the conference semifinals, bronze- and gold-medal matches March 7-8. 

It is the first time since Winnipeg joined the conference in the mid-90s that the Wesmen will host the tournament. 

"Unbelievable. I don't have any words for something like that," Wesmen head coach Chris Voth said. I think the guys deserve it, they've played well the entire season, and I couldn't be more honoured to be with this group."

Isaiah Olfert posted a team-high 12 kills to lead the Wesmen, who played without starting right side Luke Lodewyks, who was injured on a block just a few points into the match. Middle blocker Paxton Koop hit .692 with nine kills on 13 swings.

Setter Ben Traa had five kills on five swings and had a team-high nine digs. Jaxon Rose added eight kills and had nine digs.  

After a four-set win on Thursday in which they had to fend off a feisty Bisons team, the Wesmen looked much more in control and had the look of a top-seeded favourite. 

They hit .308 for the match — and that's accounting for a dip to .100 in the third set — and held the Bisons to .122 for the night. They forced Manitoba into 19 attack errors and held Canada West all-rookie outside Owen Weekes to three kills on 16 swings with seven errors. 

Spencer Grahame had a match-high 13 kills and hit .321 to lead the Bisons, and Eric Ogaranko added eight. Josh Jehle totalled a match-high 13 digs. 

"I think Winnipeg played like a first-ranked team, and we played like an eighth-ranked team," Bisons head coach Lupo Ludwig said. "There were a little too many errors, we couldn't keep it up and usually what bailed us out during the season was our serving, and that didn't go quite as well. We had a couple of serves that went well but not enough and that's the story of the game."

Similar to Thursday, the Wesmen seemed to have another level in the middle and late in sets. The Wesmen used a six-point run on Koop's serve to take a 14-10 lead only to see Manitoba tear off five of their own to jump back in front. From there, however, the Wesmen won seven of the next eight to take control. 

In Set 2, the Wesmen took control right away with a run of eight-out-of-nine points that broke an 8-8 tie. And, in Set 3, after the Bisons took a 15-11 lead, the Wesmen rallied with seven of the next eight points and didn't trail again. Manitoba was in striking distance at 22-21 down, but three straight Wesmen points sealed the match.

"We do a lot of mental preparation for those moments exactly," Voth said, "so it's nice to see them respond to that and execute when it matters most."

The Wesmen will play in the 5 p.m. semifinal match on Friday with UBC and Alberta meeting in the 7 p.m. semi. The third-place and championship matches would be played at 5 and 7 on Saturday.